Commitment on discarding
THE SCOTTISH Fishermen’s Federation (SFF) underlined its commitment for measures to reduce discarding at a meeting in Edinburgh this week.
The Scottish government-organised meeting – dubbed “red card for discards” – was attended by the fishing industry, scientists, environmentalists and policy-makers including some from the European Commission and discussed workable measures for reducing the discarding of fish.
SFF chief executive Bertie Armstrong said the industry was determined to reduce discarding and had already taken the lead in a range of initiatives to reduce the catch of unwanted fish.
“This has included technical alterations to trawls to release juvenile fish, as well as fish bycatch in the langoustine fishery. This applies across all sectors of the industry and is backed up by a serious programme of research as part of the Scottish industry/science partnership.”
