Fisheries Council scoffs at full discard ban, while Parliament prepares for battle ahead

Press Release Date: February 27, 2013

Location: Madrid

Contact:

Marta Madina | email: mmadina@oceana.org | tel.: Marta Madina

In another late night Fisheries Council meeting, France and Spain led a group of countries into dismantling a hard earned discard ban that was overwhelmingly passed through the European Parliament earlier this month. All Member States but Sweden, disappointingly agreed to compromise the principle of a full discard ban by allowing up to 9 percent of catches to be thrown overboard.

Xavier Pastor, executive director of Oceana in Europe issued the following statement :

“Fisheries Ministers are steamrolling the will of the people because they lack the political courage to do the right thing. This decision is just another example of how disconnected they are from the citizens of their own countries, who want to put an end to this shameful practice of wasting fish.”

The discard ban was the most contentious element that the Council had yet to come to a conclusion on. Now that a full position has been established, Fisheries Ministers will start discussions with negotiation leader MEP Ulrike Rodust who, in an unusual but bold move this week, warned them that the Parliament would be unwilling to follow the Council down the wrong path and waste this opportunity to repair the broken European fisheries policy.

Learn more: Discards