Europe is pushing for an end to the wasteful discarding of bycatch fish.

At present, most European fishing boats throw back any portion of their catch that is not the species they are after or is under the minimum size regulations. Often, these animals are injured in the catching process and do not survive long.

Now Maria Damanaki, European Commissioner for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, has told a meeting on the issue that ongoing reform of Europe’s common fisheries policy (CFP) must include a discard ban. Formal talks on CFP reform will begin in the next few months.

“The new CFP must become a policy that has sustainability written all over it,” she said (statement pdf). “If it does not do away with discards then it will not deserve this name.”

Damanaki notes that although the UN puts the rate of discarding at about 8% of total fish catches, in some fisheries it is significantly higher. Those who try to catch flatfish sometimes throw back 70% of what they haul onboard.

With global fisheries currently in a woeful state, ending bycatch waste is often touted by reformers as a good step towards sustainability. Even those fish that are deemed not worth selling for human consumption could be turned into food for aquaculture or other farming.

Richard Benyon, the United Kingdom fisheries minister, told the Guardian, “The battle lines will be drawn across Europe. We have to change this practice, which is something people rightly find offensive.”

Image: iStock.