At a January meeting in Hamburg, the Baltic Sea RAC unanimously agreed that greater selectivity is the solution to cod discards in the region.
The Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (BS RAC) met to agree on a response to the Commission consultation on the eradication of discards in the Baltic Sea. Bycatch and discards in the Baltic Sea cod fishery has been on the BS RAC agenda before and an initiative have been taken already to find ways to improve selectivity in the fishery. In early February, the BS RAC will be organising a technical workshop on this issue in Simrishamn, Sweden.
The consultation touches on a range of issues, such as the need for review of closed areas, effort management and fully documented fisheries. It also ties in with the EU level debate on discards and the widespread calls for a discard ban – the latest example of which is the FishFight campaign headed by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall.
During the RAC discussions yesterday, it was clear that while views on the usefulness and effects of a discard ban differed slightly, all felt that it is not a tool that tackles the heart of the problem, which is catching the unwanted fish in the first place. To address this, other measures focused on increasing selectivity and reducing bycatch are needed. The BS RAC response to the Commission will be sent in next week.
During the day, the BS RAC members also listened to presentations by Carla Montesi, Director of Directorate E: Baltic Sea, North Sea and landlocked Member States at DG MARE, the European Commission, Harm Koster, Director of the Community Fisheries Control Agency in Vigo, and Anne Christine Brusendorff, Executive Secretary at HELCOM. There was also a discussion about safety at sea.