Discards and Bycatch: 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.
