Maria Damanaki, the
European Fisheries commissioner, has drawn up a proposal to ban the
controversial practice of ‘discards’ - a perverse consequence of current quota
rules imposed by Brussels, and will present it to a meeting of ministers and
MEPs on Tuesday.
In response Greenpeace
UK executive director John Sauven said:
“We must end the
practice of throwing away perfectly good fish by making sure that all the fish
we catch are landed. The estimated discards for the North
Sea alone range from 500,000 to 880,000 tonnes. And, according to
Scotland's fishing minister, £40
million worth of fish a year are thrown away by Scottish fishermen alone. But it
is also crucial that a discard ban is not met by giving in to demands for higher
quotas. We need to use more effective fishing gear as well as agreeing genuinely
sustainable levels of fishing.”
ENDS
Greenpeace – 0207 865 8255
