THE SOLUTIONs
DiscardWe need to diversify our fish eating habits, and we need to change policy so that it works for fish, fishermen and consumers.
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), which is the political framework for the quota system, is currently being reformed for 2012. Scientists and environmental groups have suggested a number of ways that that the policy can work to protect fish stocks. Some details of these can be found on our solutions page.
Re-writing the Common Fisheries Policy is going to be an enormously complicated business, and unfortunately there is no one easy solution to ending discards. Many people agree that the answer will lie in a combination of different ideas and policies.
SOLUTIONS?
So what can be done about discarding?
Re-writing the Common Fisheries Policy is going to be an enormously complicated business, and unfortunately there is no one easy solution to ending discards. Most people agree that the answer will lie in a combination of different ideas and policies.
Experts have offered a number of potential answers. Hugh’s fish fight is not trying to dictate the exact solutions politicians should choose – simply to ensure that whatever their choice for 2012, the prevention of discarding should be a top priority.
If you are interested in finding out about the ways discarding can be stopped, here are the ideas of environmental Non Government Organisations (NGOs) who are supporting us: Client Earth, the Marine Conversation Society, the WWF, The Angling Trust, Ocean2012 and Greenpeace.
If you drop student politics for long enough to think about consequences... you'll realise that throwing the fish back in is a good thing.
The only way to encourage fishermen not to catch certain fish is to ensure they get no financial gain by doing so. They will not catch these fish on purpose just to throw them back in. And you can't prevent them catching them by accident since you've no way of knowing what they caught while they were out there.
Perhaps the fishing policy can be improved on if it's done carefully.
But anything invovled with Greenpeace fascists is just student politics nonsense and should be instantly discarded.
What? Of course they're dead. Why does that matter?
It's hard enough catching just one specific species with a rod and line, using a net it's practically impossible. It's better to use what's caught than to throw it away.
That's the point, why waste it?
The crews of the trawlers, work hard shifts, at great risk, to catch what they can, EU rules say that they can only catch certain amounts of certain fish, the rest is not allowed. With current net fishing techniques, it is not possible to discriminate by species, and thus the crews are working for nothing. To then have to throw perfectly good fish away, is just rubbing salt in the wound, and does nothing for the economy of the fishing industry, and does nothing for the ecology of the sea.
What? Of course they're dead. Why does that matter?
You're trolling, right? The fishermen go to certain places and use certain methods to catch certain fish.
Because the quotas were brought in to protect fish species which were in decline. One of the things the fishermen brought up during the shows was that they're starting to catch more and more cod now that the stocks have started to recover, but once they land their quota then they have to throw any more cod back into the water. So they're dumping thousands of fish back into the sea dead because this allows the stock to recover. Somehow.
The other thing that's been brought up is the dodgy labeling on tins of fish some supermarkets have claiming that they are dolphin friendly. A couple of girls on the show last night went to one of the ships which caught tuna for one of these supermarkets and the crewman giving them a tour openly admitted that their methods caught sharks, turtles and fish in the process too. The company claimed that if this happens the creatures are released back into the sea unharmed, but they had some footage of a ship trying to release a ray and they weren't exactly gentle.
Except that generally they don't. They use industrial-sized purse seining, which catches everything from the small fish which attract the tuna up to dolphins and turtles.
You're trolling, right? The fishermen go to certain places and use certain methods to catch certain fish. The whole point of forcing them to throw back fish when they fail to get it right is to stop them getting it wrong so that they are encouraged to get it right.
If you let them whoops I accidentally as much as they want then they'll fish the easiest stuff to fish and ignore the quotas.
Why is that hard to grasp?
They protect fish stocks because fisherman are encouraged not to fish those fish because it's extra hassle for no financial reward.
you can't prevent them catching them by accident since you've no way of knowing what they caught while they were out there
As for dolphin friendly I'm no expert but even I knew it wasn't dolphin super friendly, and it just meant better than nothing.