Thursday 19 January 2017

Landing obligation in practice

Landing obligation in practice

Fishing vessels
Since 2015 the landing obligation is being implemented on a gradual basis. Each fishery has its own specificities and differences which makes precise guidance difficult; a pelagic fishery in the Atlantic is not the same as a pelagic fishery in the Mediterranean Sea, for example. Vessel dimension, type of gear, sea basin, etc. are all factors to pay attention to while implementing the landing obligation.
Over the last few years, governments, scientific institutions, industry, fishermen and other stakeholders have worked to develop trials and solutions. Some examples of projects co-funded by the EU through pilot projects or specific programmes and funds such as the EFF, Life+, etc. are: The English Discard Ban Trial,  DisCatch,  EcoFishMan.
EU countries have also supported a number of different projects such as Celselect: Celtique sélectivité by France Filière Pêche or industry-led initiatives such as Groundbreaking fishing gear selectivity trials lead by Seafish. 
Other examples of projects, trials or research on the landing obligation:
HideCOFASP - Research Projects' Web-Mapping Application
That is database of fisheries, aquaculture and seafood processing projects. It was created to directly address actions envisaged within that matter as part of the Europe 2020 strategy which recognises bioeconomy as an important part of the strategy.
HideDAG - The Discard Action Group
The Discard Action Group is a forum for the discussion of industry-wide problems relating to discards. It is an example on an integrated, interdisciplinary, co-operative approach to the issue, and is the only UK cross-industry group addressing the discards issue from all perspectives. It involves everyone NGOs, policy-makers, fishery managers, fishers, science and supply chains –supermarkets and processors.