CFP reform – the discard ban

Abstract

POs can monitor and manage their members' fishing activities and uptake of fishing opportunities. POs or other fishermen's organizations can set up real-time swapping tools, within and between organizations. The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) would support POs and fishermen to this end. They would also receive support from the EMFF to implement the discard ban and handle the landed catches, including storage aid, support for building extra storage facilities on shore and funding marketing campaigns to promote the consumption of lesser known fish by consumers. What happens in case of unintentional catches despite improved selectivity? Fish with known high survival rates should be identified and released alive back into the sea. All other fish caught would be landed and counted against the quotas. These catches would be handled as follows: Undersized fish. Minimum conservation reference sizes will be set on biological grounds. These will be the yardstick for developing the best gears to minimize catches of juveniles. The measures can then be adapted at regional level via regionalization to obtain the best results. Fish below this minimum size can only be sold for fish meal or pet food production. Fishermen can thus cover the landing costs, but without generating financial gain. Fish caught in excess of individual quota. Fish caught in excess of individual quotas can be marketed normally. Where vessel owners are about to run out of one or more of their quotas they need to buy or lease quotas from another vessel owner in the same MS. Where this is impossible quota overshoot rules apply as it is the responsibility of the fishermen to ensure that they have all quotas necessary to land their catches.