"Fishermen's plaything of NGOs and politicians" - a view of the Landing Obligation from a Dutch fishing perspective.

Tons of fish that come under the Landing Obligation...

This is from the EMK FB page and an interpretation of the the origins of the EU's introduction of a discards ban through the Landing Obligation rules for fishing vessels - from the early days of Scottish fishermen in the North Sea desperate to point out the senseless waste of dumping fish for which they had no quota yet were unable to avoid catching through to the take up of the cause by the probably well-intentioned chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whitinstall and the subsequent half million signature petition signed by equally well meaning and concerned members of the EU public with little understanding of the complexities of the industry culminating in the equally ill-informed legislation now known as the Landing Obligation - read on - the translation courtesy of Google from the original Dutch!

end up like this with dye being poured over them to stop them being sent for human consumption

Fishermen's plaything of NGOs and politicians

Biologists ignored at #aanlandplicht (Landing Obligation)

In The Introduction of the Landing Obligation (LO) for #babyvisjes, assertion and emotion played a far too large role. In formulating new policies, the European Commission already preferred a total ban on discards. For the sake of simplicity, the commission was asked to ask biologists.

And so fishermen are now with the #fried #pears. Visserijjournalist, Willem Van Den Heijer reveals how harmful the aanlandplicht is.

"Call to the aanlandplicht" was a documentary in 2004 on by-catches in fishing in which Scottish fishermen overboard saithe. They wanted to make a statement. The Scots were in the throes of a tight quota and were more than permitted. It is not a catch of substandard fish, but just the ones that were firm in size, they went overboard. In Short: #food of the top shelf. The documentary circulates a few years later on the internet and causes public outrage. A Successful British Kookboekenschrijver (Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whitinstall) will pick up the subject and get on with it. He starts a campaign and receives support* from organisations such as greenpeace, WWF And Oceana. (*Funded mostly by PEW, an American charity largely funded by American Oil money)

Petition

The Dutch Fisheries sector is very concerned. From the moment the
Campaign under the name 'Fishfight' form is not to be restored. Moreover, the parties concerned would not be sensitive to that. The Carousel must not stagnate. In the campaign, the failing European Fisheries will pass. Brussels is the dog. More than 500.000 people from different member states, not plagued by any insight, sign a petition for a ban on discards of edible fish. Social pressure was no longer possible in Brussels. In 2012, the European commission presented a new common fisheries policy (CFP) with a prominent place for a total ban on discards, including the small ones.

Almost impossible

In this year 'Plaice in the north sea', a biography of the flatfish and Dutch Fisheries, criticises author Adriaan Rijnsdorp the attitude of the European commission. The Commission discussed the aanlandplicht with the member states and the Regional Advisory Committees (RAC), but had to consult the biologists. " every person with a little common sense can see that the introduction of the aanlandplicht is an almost impossible task. Scholvissers do not throw for nothing, ever since their capture became a commodity, the less nationalities specimens as much as possible back in the sea. An Entrepreneur does not land on what no one buys, according to visserijbioloog rijnsdorp, who is also an extraordinary professor of sustainable Fisheries Management.

Own course EC

According to rijnsdorp, by-catches of other species, with the exception of fishing for herring, for most fisheries. Plaice is not clean at all. Rijnsdorp regrets that no one can explain why discards of young fish are harmful to fish stocks. Fishermen have been going overboard for centuries. " what exactly does the government expect to achieve with the ban? On this reasonable question, the secretary of state did not want to respond. There must be some very good reasons for this circus. What the extraordinary professor is doing most is why the European commission chose its own course. In his book, he wonders whether the biologists have criticised the shortcomings of the policy (CFP), without being able to obtain useful information. " we began to study the aanlandplicht until the political choices were made long ago. "

Plaything

For The Dutch fishing industry, it was from the beginning to fight against the wind. Politicians voted in favour of the aanlandplicht without even thinking about the consequences. Some came back to their steps later, but the suffering had already been done. The Dutch fisherman hardly feels taken seriously. " we feel a plaything of Ngos and incompetent politicians. Ngos are spreading panic while the north sea is one of the most regulated seas in the world. Nowhere else is fish stocks as good as in the north sea. But no, here comes an organization from the us (Oceana) telling us that it should all be better, foetert skipper jan de Boer of the UK-33. He also suspects them of playing in one hat. It is clear to the fishermen that Brussels, with the introduction of the aanlandplicht, is fully boat.

Disastrous

Biologist Rijnsdorp mentions in his book the introduction of the aanlandplicht a disastrous development for Fisheries management and for fishermen. While in his view, the cooperation of fishermen is essential because inspections at sea are only carried out by random checks and there are many loopholes. Rijnsdorp is concerned about the ecosystem if fishermen are to land many small fish. For centuries, they have been easy prey for other sea creatures. In this way, the biologist is the fisherman in the total ecosystem as a toppredator that is constantly dropping stitch (discards). In addition to sea birds, several scavengers on the seabed have also benefited from the 'feeding' by fishing for centuries. It further: without aanlandplicht, a part (possibly a third, as from the recent overlevingsproeven with plaice on board a texel cutter) of the discards. A simple calculation also shows that the aanlandplicht can even lead to considerably more discards when the quotas, as planned, are increased by the weight of the expected catch, which was previously discarded, but must now be landed. The restoration of overcapacity in the platvisvloot after 2000 had long demonstrated that sustainable fishing is possible despite discards of substandard fish.

Postscript of EMF

EMF, action group of Dutch and Belgian fishermen, believes that the aanlandplicht should be made as soon as possible. In order to achieve this, this spring was presented with tens of thousands of signatures in Brussels. For 2018, fishermen and fisheries organisations consider what else they can do to help them.



Full story from Dutch fisherman, Martijn Van den Berg