With their film released over the summer, the Commission have given a final show of support for TFCs and put them in the CFP reform spotlight just months before the European Parliament plenary votes on the Basic Regulation package. Despite being rejected by both the Council and the ENVI committee in the Parliament, Commissioner Damanaki has continued to be a strong proponent of the system.
Commission staff have sought to connect the implementation of TFCs with their proposed discard ban. TFCs enable fishermen to haul a catch with fish they do not have quota, and then trade with their colleagues. Such a system is in operation in some fisheries in Denmark, Sweden and Estonia, with other countries in the Baltic also planning to implement.
If the Commission’s proposals for a discard ban are voted into the CFP legislation, all landings will be counted against quotas and fishermen may only receive a level of financial compensation for landing juveniles that would cover their costs. It is hoped that the landing obligation will force all catches to be landed and put an end to the wasteful practice of discarding, while providing a financial incentive for fishermen to become more selective. Subsidies will also be made available to enable fishermen to buy more selective gears.
In the film, a Danish Ministry representative makes the claim that “discards are reduced to very very low figures” under the TFC system. This has been the source of heated discussions within the Baltic Sea Regional Advisory Council (BS RAC), where fishermen from across the region, operating in the same waters with the same gear have reported markedly different discard rates.
ICES reports on the regional fisheries have not found significant differences between fishermen from different countries. Moreover, in their annual report on the Baltic cod fishery, WGBFAS – the Baltic Fisheries Assessment Working Group, they state that “the total Danish discard estimate in FishFrame at present is an underestimate of the real discard”. This is because they “decided not to provide discard estimates through FishFrame…Denmark is not prepared to use this facility in general”.
In 2011, 12 million cod were discarded in the Baltic Sea, mostly juveniles. Approximately 95% of these discards were attributed to the trawl fleet, which is also responsible for just over 70% of catches.
The discard issue is heavily connected to various trawl fisheries; however, the landing obligation alone will not be a workable solution. Improved selectivity mainly through new gear and improved fishing techniques are key to solving the discard problem at sea. If selectivity does not improve, fishermen might find themselves in a situation where they have to reduce the amount of non target fish or juveniles in order to remain profitable. For example there is a chance that discarding will continue at sea by simply slacking a trawl before lifting it up.
If a discard ban is to be effective and controllable it should cover all species, rather than merely certain commercial stocks as has been proposed. From a distance it is not possible to see if a boat is discarding cod or a flatfish species, which makes control problematic.
The Baltic fisheries are operating in a non-complex environment with 3-5 possible species being caught, depending on the target species and gear used. If the discard problem cannot be solved here it will be far more difficult in more mixed fisheries. Therefore a complete discard ban for certain gear types is the best solution.