As of today, Thursday, November 29, 2012 over 838,120 people have signed a petition to stop wasteful discards.
Hugh’s Fish Fight which started in 2011 by Hugh Fearnly-Whittingstall, has caught the attention of thousands of people all over the world, with over 700,000 signatories within the EU and the remaining sign-ups spread throughout the world. The campaign is aimed towards changing key aspects in the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) that would ban discards. Discards refer to the fish that are retained by fishing gear and are then thrown back into the sea. They are often juvenile fish which are too small to be legally landed or can be thrown back so that fishermen can land higher value fish instead. These discards are usually dead or have little to no chance of survival. It is estimated that one in four fish caught in the EU are discarded back into the sea.
All the names that endorse the campaign will be included in a letter to Commissioner Maria Damanki, and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Commissioner Damanki has also pledged her support and wants to end “the nightmare of discards”. The discard ban which is part of the larger CFP reform will be voted on in early 2013.