A Dutch beam trawler is currently carrying out sea trials to help tackle the waste of even more perfectly good fish being dumped by holding the catch, live, in sea water and returning the undersized fish back to the sea in the hope that a large percentage will survive the experience. As the boat fishes in relatively shallow water of the North Sea (<20m in the southern parts) the mortality rate of the fish should be significantly lower than if the beam trawlers working in the south west were to do the same where the average depth of water often exceeds >100m.
It is still hard to believe that in 2017, with huge numbers of the world's population malnourished, we allow scientific thinking and crude legislation to mange one of the planet's greatest resources - there must be a better way.
The following is a Google translation of the post:
The fishing boat, UK 33 Jan De Boer does survival research this week. This is the result after a 'tow' of no less than two hours. Or the fish in the coming days and weeks to survive, to be clear in a laboratory environment.
The research is of great importance for the facilitation of the #LandingObligation. At high survival can undersized fish of specific types of possible be exempted from " everything dead land,' as the unnatural EU aanlandwet (Landing Obligation) now requires.
One fisherman commented:
Fishermen like the breath...
And in the meantime, stay holy convinced of an old visserswijsheid: if non-marktwaardige fish and babyvis directly back into the sea, is always going to be a good percentage of life. Fish who can't make it, is food for other marine life.