Apr
26
Galicia supports gradual fish discard elimination
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Rosa Quintana, head of the Undersecretary of Rural and Marine Affairs of Galicia. (Photo: Xunta de Galicia)
Galicia supports gradual fish discard elimination
SPAIN
Monday, April 27, 2015, 03:30 (GMT + 9)
Head of the Undersecretariat of Rural and Marine Affairs of Xunta de Galicia, Rosa Quintana stressed the need for the elimination of fishery discards to be gradual. Furthermore, she argued that the landings must be accompanied by important measures to preserve the social, economic and environmental objectives of the activity “without causing its collapse.”
The minister highlighted the discard elimination policy is well-intended but she also stressed the difficulty of its implementation in the daily fishing activity.
“Discrepancies arise when the practical implementation of this policy news presents gaps, contradictions, lack of adequate mechanisms to control and sometimes, poor documentation supporting the actual situation on the species returned into the sea,” Quintana pointed out.
She emphasized that when addressing measures like these ones, it is important to “avoid having rules that are unfocused, difficult to interpret, monitor and enforce”.
For Quintana, it is necessary “to establish a regulatory framework to better implement the new EU fisheries policy from a model that is compatible with the fishing experience.”
She suggests that discard plans must be set for each fishery with new interim rules and only “when the remaining regulations have been adapted to the new concept, it could enter into force on discards landing”.
Furthermore, she claims the importance of considering small scale and inshore fishing sector, which consists of 3,800 vessels and 5,440 crew members and whose discharges represent 22 per cent of total landings in Galicia.
Quintana ensured the inshore fleet is very important “for coastal populations, and this is directly affected by the duty of landings despite its limited effort and small discard impact.”
Therefore, the Government of Galicia has asked the European Parliament (EP) for “a differentiated regime that should be selected for managing the ban on discards in these fleets,” she concluded.
Related article:
– Eliminating discards ‘is very complicated,’ ensures ICES president
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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