The Scottish Government is funding a test of five Scottish trawlers’ use of selective fishing gear to the tune of €280,000.
The aim of the gear is to reduce cod discards while enabling fishers to land valuable seabed-dwelling species such as monkfish and flatfish. Thereby, helping fishers to avoid taking catches they have no quota for as well as acting as a conservation measure.
The trial, to be monitored by observers from the Marine Scotland Science Marine Laboratory, has been strongly supported by Scotland’s fisheries minister Richard Lochhead, who has previously been outspoken in his criticism of the Common Fisheries Policy and has branded the rules surrounding discards an “utter disgrace.”
Lochhead has argued that “in return for taking less fish from the sea in the first place, our fishermen should be allowed to land more of what they do catch rather than be forced to dump it over the side of the boat”.
It is hoped that using more selective fishing gear will lead to a reduction in discards and form part of the process of stock recovery. Further trials using selective gear are scheduled for 2010 to catch whitefish and prawns while avoiding cod are currently being planned.