Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament - A policy to reduce unwanted by-catches and eliminate discards in European fisheries {SEC(2007) 380} {SEC(2007) 381}
Date: 2007-03-28
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: by-catch, common fisheries policy, conservation of fish stocks, discarded fish, fishing controls

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 28.3.2007 
COM(2007) 136 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

A policy to reduce unwanted by-catches and eliminate discards in European fisheries 

{SEC(2007) 380} 
{SEC(2007) 381} 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL AND THE 
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT 

A policy to reduce unwanted by-catches and eliminate discards in European fisheries 

1. 

THE COMMUNITY’S COMMITMENT TO REDUCE DISCARDS 

Discarding - the dumping overboard of dead, unwanted fish caught as by-catch - is a 
serious  problem  in  European  fisheries  and  one  which,  in  the  view  of  the 
Commission,  must  be  addressed  as  a  high  priority.  The  objective  of  this 
Communication  is  to  initiate  a  policy  which  will  reduce  unwanted  by-catches  and 
progressively eliminate discards in European fisheries.  

A  new  discard  policy  will  reduce  unwanted  by-catches  by  encouraging  behaviour 
and  technologies  which  avoid  unwanted  by-catches.  The  instruments  are  a 
progressive introduction of a discard ban – where all finfish and crustaceans caught 
will  have  to  be  landed  –  and  supplementary  measures  such  as  encouragement  to 
improve  the  selectivity  of  fishing  gear,  requirements  to  change  fishing  ground  and 
real time closures.  

The  basic  implementation  principle  is  to  regulate  what  is  caught  in  the  first  place 
rather than to regulate landings. The policy will be that management will be based on 
requirements for specific outcomes – maximum acceptable impact – to be met rather 
than regulations of specific technical solutions. Such results-based management will, 
wherever  possible,  leave  it  to  the  industry  to  identify  technical  solutions  which  are 
economically  and  practically  feasible  and  produce  the  required  results.  This  is  an 
important  change  in  approach  in  the  implementation  of  the  Common  Fisheries 
Policy. 

The need to reduce discards in European fisheries was identified by the Commission 
as  an  important  objective  for  the  future  of  the  Common  Fisheries  Policy  in  its 
Communication on this subject adopted in 20021. Subsequently, the Council adopted 
conclusions  on  3  April  2003  inviting  the  Commission  to  explore  different  ways  to 
resolve  this  problem  and,  in  particular,  to  promote  the  implementation  of  pilot 
projects  to  reduce  discards  in  cooperation  with  the  fishing  industry.  However, 
although  a  few  projects  have  materialised  and  demonstrated  good  results,  most 
fisheries remain unaffected and the impact on overall by-catches is negligible.  

This Communication presents issues for discussion and outlines the policy approach 
to  reduce  unwanted  by-catch  and  progressively  eliminate  discards.  Further 
background information can be found in a Commission Staff Working Paper relevant 
to this Communication2. 

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2 

COM(2002)  656.  Other  Communications  which  refer  to  the  discard  issue  from  an  environmental 
perspective are COM(2002) 186 and COM(2004) 438. 
Technical Background to the Commission's Communication "A policy to reduce unwanted by-catch and 
eliminate discards in European fisheries" - Commission Staff Working Paper SEC(2007) 380. 

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2. 

THE EFFECTS, CAUSES AND EXTENT OF DISCARDING 

The FAO defines discards as “that proportion of the total organic material of animal 
origin in the catch, which is thrown away, or dumped at sea for whatever reason. It 
does  not  include  plant  material  and  post  harvest  waste  such  as  offal.  The  discards 
may  be  dead  or  alive”3.  Discards  may  consist  of  species  which  are  commercially 
exploited  but  which,  due  to  market  considerations,  quota  restrictions  or  minimum 
landing sizes, are not taken ashore. Discards may, according to this definition, also 
be  any  other  organism  which  is  caught  incidentally  such  as  non-target  finfish, 
crustaceans, molluscs, sea mammals and seabirds.  

The  capture  of  unwanted  by-catches  and  their  subsequent  discarding  has  several 
negative consequences. Unwanted by-catches are a waste of societal resources. The 
capture of juvenile individuals of target species results in lower catch opportunities 
for those species in the future and a reduction in the spawning biomass for the future 
since the juveniles caught will not contribute in future spawning seasons. The discard 
of  mature  individuals  of  target  species  represents  a  waste  and  immediately  reduces 
the spawning biomass of that stock. The capture and discard of fish, crustacean, sea 
bird  or  sea  mammal  species  which  are  not  targeted  by  fisheries,  is  an  unnecessary 
negative  impact  on  the  marine  ecosystem  as  it  affects  the  functioning  of  the 
ecosystem and its biodiversity negatively without providing any benefits to society. 
Certain  marine  organisms  including  some  species  of  sharks  and  rays  are  very 
sensitive to fishing and may as a result be reduced to very low levels even when they 
are only caught as unwanted by-catch. In such cases the incidental killing of even a 
few individuals may be critical from a biodiversity perspective. Returning unwanted 
by-catches  back  into  the  sea  does  not  reduce  the  problem  because  most  species  of 
fish and crustaceans will be dead or have low survival in the sea after having been 
caught and then discarded. 

Catches  of  marine  organisms  are  discarded  because  of  economic  considerations 
and/or due to some existing regulations.  

There are strong economic incentives in many fisheries to discard fish to maximise 
the value of the landing, so called 'high-grading', in particular when different sizes or 
qualities of fish command different market prices or when species with very different 
market value are caught together. Furthermore, the value of some organisms may be 
low or non-existent because they do not have a market. But even if there is a market, 
to  handle  and  use  storage  space  onboard  to  store  all  marketable  organisms  caught, 
when  priority  could  have  been  given  to  high-value  organisms  is  costly,  and  could 
result in considerable economic loss.  

Some  regulatory  instruments  which  are  currently  used  lead  inevitably  to  discards. 
The reliance on TAC's as the main management instrument in mixed fisheries leads 
to discards when above-quota quantities of some species are taken while there is still 
quota left over for others. The use of minimum landing sizes also leads to discards, 
especially in mixed fisheries where species of different adult size are caught together.  

3 

FAO  Fisheries  Technical  Paper  339  (1994);  FAO  Fisheries  Report  547  (1996);  FAO  Fisheries 
Technical Paper 470 (2005). 

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Data on discards in European fisheries have been collected systematically under the 
Data  Collection  Regulation  since  2002.  The  Scientific,  Technical  and  Economic 
Committee  for  Fisheries  (STECF)  has  provided  a  preliminary  overview4  of  discard 
rates based on data from 2003-2005. Discard rates are in the range of 20-60% of the 
catch weight for various typical fisheries exploiting demersal stocks. Cod fisheries in 
the Baltic were estimated to have low discards. In the North Sea, Beam trawls were 
estimated to discard 40 to 60% of the catch and demersal trawls around 40%. In the 
areas west of the British Isles, bottom trawling gear discard in the range of 20-40%. 
In the more southerly Atlantic Community waters, trammel and gill nets discard less 
than 20% while bottom trawling gears discard in the range of 30 to 60%. The data 
available do not cover all fisheries and species and some data are not representative. 
STECF has therefore not been in a position to estimate the overall absolute amount 
of  discards  in  European  fisheries.  Estimates  based  on  earlier  studies5  indicate 
discards in the order of 500 000 to 880 000 tonnes in the North Sea in the 1990's, of 
which  beam  trawlers  targeting  sole,  Nephrops  trawlers  and  in  some  years,  trawlers 
targeting whitefish, are responsible for the largest amount.  

3. 

MEASURES  TO  PROGRESSIVELY  INTRODUCE  A  DISCARD  BAN  AND  TO  REDUCE 
UNWANTED BY-CATCHES 

A  policy  to  reduce  unwanted  by-catches  through  a  discard  ban  on  commercial 
species has inter alia been introduced in some fisheries in Norway, Iceland, Canada 
and New Zealand. The experiences from these cases largely relate to fisheries which 
are  able  to  target  one  species  at  a  time  and  the  complications  arising  in  fisheries 
which catch a mixture of species are thus not encountered. In the Community there 
are some fisheries - such as many pelagic fisheries - which are able to target single 
species  and  where  international  experiences  may  be  applied.  There  are  however, 
many  demersal  fisheries 
the  Community  which  catch  several  species 
simultaneously and where these experiences cannot be directly applied. 

in 

The  reduction  of  unwanted  by-catches  and  progressive  elimination  of  discards  in 
European fisheries will therefore require a combination of several instruments. 

A  new  discard  policy  aims  to  remove  the  practice  of  discarding.  This  will  be 
achieved in EU waters on a fishery by fishery basis through tailored plans that could 
include  discard  bans  and  other  supplementary  measures  to  reduce  by-catch.  At  the 
same  time,  the  Community  will  promote  initiatives  for  elimination  of  discards  in 
Regional Fisheries Management Organisations. 

Discard  bans  would  apply  to  all  finfish  and  crustaceans.  Exceptions  may  be  made 
where  high  long-term  survival  of  specific  species  discarded  from  specific  fisheries 
has been clearly demonstrated.  

Existing  management  measures  which  presently  encourage  discarding  in  mixed 
fisheries must be reviewed and their use revised in order to reduce or remove such 
encouragement.  The  use  of  TACs  in  mixed  fisheries  without  supplementary 

4 

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Discarding  by  EU  fleet.  Report  of  the  Scientific,  Technical  and  Economic  Committee  for  Fisheries  - 
Commission Staff Working Paper http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/legislation/reports_en.htm. 
As summarised in FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 470 (2005). 

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measures  to  control  effort  will  encourage  continued  catch  of  species,  for  which  a 
vessel  has  exhausted  its  quota,  as  long  as  there  are  species  left  for  which  it  has  a 
quota. TACs must therefore be combined with measures to keep effort within limits 
which  will  stop  the  fisheries  when  there  are  only  quotas  on  a  few  species  left  for 
which  to  fish.  In  addition,  in  mixed  fisheries  there  may  be  a  need  to  develop 
mechanisms for some flexibility and transfer of quotas. 

Minimum  landing  sizes  presently  require  vessels  to  discard  undersized  fish.  If  a 
requirement  to  land  all  fish  is  introduced,  juvenile  fish  should  be  protected  against 
targeted fisheries by making the marketing rather than the landing of such fish illegal 
by introducing minimum marketing sizes for human consumption instead. 

Other existing CFP instruments and supplementary measures may be used to reduce 
unwanted  by-catches  and  eliminate  discards.  Such 
include 
encouragement  to  develop  and  use  selective  gears,  real-time  area  closures,  an 
obligation to switch fishing grounds, quota flexibility, fees on unwanted by-catches 
and expropriation of unwanted by-catches.  

instruments 

The  most  effective  measure  to  motivate  efforts  by  the  industry  to  reduce  unwanted 
by-catches  is  a  ban  on  discards.  A  discard  ban  puts  a  cost  on  taking  unwanted  by-
catches  and  will  thus  motivate  development  of  technologies  and  practices  which 
catch  fewer  unwanted  fish.  The  combination  of  a  discard  ban  with  supplementary 
measures  such  as  real-time  closures  and  obligation  to  change  fishing  ground  will 
combine strong motivations to avoid by-catches with some guidance on how to avoid 
by-catches. 

Instead of introducing an extended set of technical regulations, an approach based on 
maximum  acceptable  impacts  of  fisheries  operations  will  be  used.  The  negative 
impact of fisheries to be reduced as a result of this policy is the unnecessary killing 
of marine organisms by fishing. Standards for maximum acceptable by-catch of non-
marketable, juvenile or above-quota organisms will thus be defined on a fishery-by-
fishery  basis.  These  standards  will  initially  be  based  on  a  reduction  relative  to  the 
present  situation  and  will  be  progressively  reduced  further  in  order  to  encourage 
technological  developments  and  adaptations  of  fishing  practices  which  will  avoid 
such by-catches. 

The  main  thrust  of  this  initiative  is  thus  to  progressively  eliminate  discards  and 
significantly  reduce  unwanted  by-catches  through  management  which  specifies 
outcomes  rather  than  means.  Such  an  approach  will  be  an  important  change  in 
European  fisheries  management.  In  this  approach  extensive  micromanagement 
specifications of fishing gear and fishing practices are replaced by requirements for 
specific results (maximum acceptable by-catch) and the industry is then left free to 
choose  those  solutions  which  are  most  compatible  with  the  practical  and  economic 
realities  of  the  fisheries.  The  approach  will  thus  rely  extensively  on  initiative  from 
the industry to identify technical solutions and resolve other implementation issues. 
A  requirement  to  land  all  fish  will  mean  that  occasionally  fish  above  the  quota  or 
below minimum market size will be landed. It is necessary to consider whether these 
landed  by-catches  should  be  counted  against  quotas  and  whether  the  quota  system 
should be modified to include by-catches. The disposal of these by-catches needs to 
be considered – whether they will be sold through normal market systems, for human 
consumption (if above minimum market size), for reduction to fish meal and oil or 

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otherwise. It has to be decided if and how a part of the proceeds of such sales could 
be  dedicated  to  cover  the  new  expenses  brought  in  by  the  implementation  of  no-
discards  measures,  either  those  incurred  by  public  authorities  or  by  fishermen 
themselves. 

4. 

MONITORING AND CONTROL 

Given the strong economic incentives for discarding it must be expected that when a 
by-catch  reduction  policy  including  a  discard  ban  is  imposed,  discarding  may  still 
take place under circumstances where enforcement is weak or the legal consequences 
do not match the immediate economic benefits from discarding. For the Commission 
enforcement  is  thus  a  primary  concern  for  implementation.  The  Commission  will 
propose by-catch related management measures for which monitoring systems can be 
implemented  in  practice  and  which  are  cost-efficient.  Discarding  is  difficult  to 
observe  as  it  happens  and  is  difficult  to  document  once  it  has  taken  place.  It  may 
therefore be argued that it will never be possible to enforce a discard ban fully and 
ensure  elimination  of  all  illegal  discards.  A  positive  result  will  nevertheless  be 
achieved if a sufficiently large proportion of fishermen  have changed the  way they 
operate (using more selective gears, moving away from areas where by-catches are 
too  high)  because  they  adhere  to  the  discard  ban  and/or  because  the  enforcement 
regime has put enough pressure on wrong doers.  

Observer schemes will play a major role in enforcement. They can not by themselves 
however be a universal solution as such schemes are costly, especially when a large 
number  of  small  or  medium  size  vessels  are  involved.  As  confirmed  by  the 
experience  gained  in  countries  which  have  implemented  discard  bans,  observer 
schemes must be part of an overall enforcement regime which must include at least: 

•  a  careful  monitoring  of  the  landings  of  individual  vessels  combined  with  a 
systematic  analysis  of  detailed  catch  and  landings  figures  which  are  compared 
with data from observers on board when it is not possible to have such observers 
on board all fishing vessels, 

•  electronic  log  book  schemes  with  almost  real  time  reporting  of  the  catch 

composition, especially when real time closure of some areas are considered, 

•  monitoring and control of the fishing gears, 

•  stakeholders' involvement and cooperation.  

Catches which must be landed although they cannot be sold by a fishing vessel (e.g. 
fish  below  marketable  size,  catches  in  excess  of  an  allowed  quota)  must  also  be 
carefully  monitored,  in  order  to  make  sure  that  they  do  not  disturb  existing  legal 
markets  and  that  they  do  not  bring  profits  which  are  not  allowed  to  the  fishing 
vessels. 

The monitoring and analysis of by-catches in order to implement real time closures 
will require that data from all fleets are compiled and analysed on an ongoing basis 
and that a mechanism is established whereby a Community body can communicate 
with the relevant Member State about the need to implement closures.  

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If some flexibility in the use of quota instruments is introduced, mechanisms must be 
put in place which ensure that such flexibility is employed in a similar manner across 
the Community. 

The  achievement  of  the  objectives  of  this  policy  needs  to  be  monitored.  The  main 
objective  is  to  reduce  unwanted  mortality  on  marine  organisms.  It  is  therefore 
important that scientific programmes are put in place to monitor the evolution of the 
mortality of the corresponding populations.  

5. 

SOCIETAL  IMPACTS  OF  A  POLICY  TO  REDUCE  UNWANTED  BY-CATCH  AND 
INCENTIVES FOR CHANGE 

The economic and social impacts of the new policy will be highly variable dependent 
on  the  specific  structure  and  economic  situation  of  each  fishery  and  the  dependent 
coastal  communities.  Economic  and  social  impact  assessments  will  therefore  be 
made on the level of regulations for specific fisheries.  

On  a  very  general  level,  the  progressive  implementation  of  a  policy  to  eliminate 
discards could result in net short-term cost increases and losses in income. Handling 
and  storing  by-catch  of  lower  value  has  a  cost  and  the  income  from  the  overall 
landing  will  be  lower.  The  use  of  closed  areas  and  requirements  to  move  to  other 
fishing grounds may imply longer distances to the fishing grounds and thus increased 
cruise  time  and  fuel  costs.  The  compulsory  use  of  selective  gears  could  similarly 
reduce short term profitability. Further impacts are to be expected further down the 
marketing and distribution chain, resulting from the landing and handling of fish that 
was so far discarded.  

In  the  longer  term  there  will  be  economic  benefits  as  a  reduction  of  by-catches  of 
juvenile fish and fish above quota will result in larger and healthier stocks and thus 
increased fishing opportunities. Furthermore, additional markets could be created for 
products derived from catches which have been discarded in the past. 

Enforcement  should  be  supplemented  with  encouragements  to  avoid  unwanted  by-
catches and discarding.  

A  possible  encouragement  is  to  introduce  a  preferential  status  such  as  preferential 
access to fisheries on the basis of track records of low by-catches.  

It  could  be  considered  whether  the  development  of  changes  in  technology  and 
practices which are required may be supported by the EFF. Assistance may also be 
given  to  develop  alternatives  for  the  use  of  previously  discarded  fish,  in  particular 
unavoidable by-catches of species of low or no commercial value. Assistance could 
be  considered  for  the  development  of  advanced  fishing  tactics  on  the  basis  of 
information systems to inform fleets about areas with high risk of unacceptable by-
catch.  

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6. 

THE WAY FORWARD 

Based on this document, the implementation principles for a policy to progressively 
eliminate  discards  and  reduce  unwanted  by-catches  in  European  fisheries  will  be 
discussed  with  Member  States  and  stakeholders  in  2007.  A  sequence  and  plan  for 
implementation  for  specific  fisheries  will  be  identified.  According  to  this  plan, 
regulations will then be developed and proposed from 2008.  

The progressive production of regulations to cover all community fisheries will be a 
long term project. 

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