Discards and By-catches: 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
