Discards and bycatch are two problems that are closely related. Bycatch is the portion of the catch that is not comprised of the fishery’s target species and the FAO defines discards as the portion of the catch that is thrown back into the sea.

In fact, bycatch is usually discarded. This happens when:

– the species caught are not commercially valuable (most invertebrate species, fish including sharks, birds, marine mammals, turtles, corals , etc.);

– catching these species is prohibited because they are protected species;

– the species are commercially valuable but are smaller than the legally authorized size or the assigned fishing quota has been reached;

– the species are commercially valuable, but less than other individuals caught. This is known as high grading, when part of the catch is classified and discarded in order to conserve only the most valuable individuals.

Discards seriously damage marine ecosystems and represent a waste of fishing resources. For example, the FAO estimated that the value of discards in deep-sea fisheries in the North Sea in 1997 was close to 700 million, similar to the value of landings.

The gear used also affects the species captured and their mortality rate.

Bycatch and discards are closely related to overfishing. It is believed that the total volume of world catches is much higher than the declared catch because many fisheries do not provide information about their discards; in other cases, many catches that are not commercially valuable are not even considered discards and, as such, are not registered at all.

What Oceana Does

Oceana works in the EU to achieve the approval of specific legislation concerning bycatch and discards. The proportion of discards in European waters is putting the future of many fisheries at risk. These fisheries discard more than 50% of their catch.

Oceana proposes the implementation of a set of measures that have been proven effective in other fisheries:

• Establish maximum allowable bycatch.
• Improve the selectivity of fishing gear. (link to I.4)
• Spatial management: closing areas in real time, closed seasons, obligation to change fishing grounds and creation of preferential access zones.
• Prohibition of high grading.
• Prohibition of discards.

Some of these ideas are being developed in different European fisheries and are generally pilot projects or local and/or regional regulations. Oceana works to introduce these measures in Community legislation and ensure they are effectively implemented.

Specific Achievements:

• At the beginning of the year, Council Regulation (CE) 43/2009 of 16 January 2009 prohibited high grading in the North Sea. This prohibition is applicable to all commercial species.
• The next step for this measure is its application in all European waters and other interesting steps are being taken in other areas.
• The EU, Norway and the Faroe Islands agreed to prohibit high grading starting 1 January 2010 for important, jointly managed, pelagic species including mackerel, herring and horse mackerel. The agreement also includes the obligation to change fishing grounds when more than 10% immature specimens of these species appear in the catch. 
• Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and the EU signed an agreement to develop a plan in 2010 to eradicate discards in the Baltic Sea cod fisheries through the adoption of a prohibition on discards. 
• Other countries are working with specific measures. For example, Scotland, implemented a system of closing areas in real time in 2008 and Denmark is working to reduce discards by installing cameras on board fishing vessels.
• Thanks to Oceana’s work, legislation in this country recently included the establishment of preferential access zones in fishery legislation.
• Establishment of maximum bycatch limits