Equivalent of 18 Million Fish Suppers Dumped in Sea Each Year

Writing to the Cabinet Secretary, the groups questioned the decision to continue to allow fishermen to self-report bycatch, instead calling for Remote Electronic Monitoring systems – already required on dredge boats and pelagic trawl vessels operating around Scotland – to be mandated on the demersal fleet. 

The letter says better monitoring would allow catches to be accounted for and ensure a level playing field between competitors. 

REM systems combine GPS data, cameras and gear sensors to record catches on the water, providing irrefutable evidence of catches, rather than relying on self-reporting.

The letter is backed by the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation, Open Seas, the Blue Marine Foundation, the Sustainable Inshore Fisheries Trust, COAST, Fish Legal, Young Sea Changers Scotland and Oceana UK.

Phil Taylor, director of Open Seas, said: “With households across the UK watching as food prices rise, it’s incomprehensible that ministers would turn a blind eye to thousands of tonnes of fish being wasted on the seas off our coasts each year. 

“Scottish ministers have failed to enforce the Landing Obligation for years – and our seas have paid the price. Now, instead of taking robust action, they are seeking to water down the rules altogether.

“A healthy and abundant marine environment is fundamental to the future of the fishing industry. We need urgent action from ministers to prevent waste and safeguard fish populations in order to protect  jobs – not just now but for the future.

“That means establishing mandatory monitoring of bottom trawl boats operating around our coasts to deter vessels from discarding unwanted catches. By acting to deter underreporting and illegal discarding, the Scottish Government can ensure a level playing field between different vessels, reduce food waste and protect the future of our seas.”

Joe Richards, Blue Marine Foundation, said: “While it is good to see the Scottish Government acknowledge, after years of failure and denial, the extent of the bycatch and discard problem, the suggested measures do not make it clear how they will achieve reductions in bycatch or seabed impacts, especially without effective monitoring.  

“The FCP is intended to safeguard the future of fisheries, but in its current form risks doing the opposite.”

Charles Millar, Executive Director of SIFT, said: “Ministers’ Future Catching Policy proposes half measures at best. There has to be, alongside proposed new technical measures to reduce bycatch, a mandatory roll-out of Remote Electronic Monitoring across the whole of the fleet. This means onboard cameras to monitor and record bycatch and discarding, as well as gear sensors and positional indicators.

“Industry, of course, loves to self-report, but this has understandably failed in the past. Fitting cameras to vessels so that fishery managers can see what fish are caught and what happens to those fish is not rocket science. It is not a costly exercise, and it works well elsewhere. If private companies wish to profit from exploiting publicly owned resources, it is perfectly reasonable that they should be scrutinised while doing so. Fitting remote monitoring has already been shown to work for midwater trawling and scallop dredging, but rolling out across the rest of the fleet has been delayed time and time again. There is no excuse for a continuing failure to do so.

“The final piece of the puzzle is to fund Marine Compliance properly so they can analyse the data and actually deter, prevent or prosecute any illegal activity and protect both fish stocks and the bulk of the fleet who fish responsibly.”