The fish stock in the EU is threatened in 88 percent of waters, and 30 percent is unlikely to ever recover. Brussels is responding with an increasing number of regulations, but many believe that a change in the rules regarding catch quotas would be sufficient, writes Deutsche Welle.
“What ends up in the net, and was not intended to be caught, is generally considered ordinary waste by fishermen,” explains Karoline Schacht from the German branch of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). Such fish that are thrown back into the sea have little chance of survival. They die because they are crushed in the net and have internal injuries or because they have been lying too long on the sorting belt and have perished. Karoline Schacht estimates that 40 percent of the caught fish and other marine animals end up as waste in the sea. In the European Union, this procedure is not only not prohibited, but in some ways is even encouraged.
For Croatian fishermen, there are no quotas
As for Croatian fishermen, or the Mediterranean in general, there are no restrictions for them except for quotas on tuna catch.
– Fishermen from the northern seas catch herring, cod, and it is much easier to determine quotas for that. Regarding tuna fishermen, there are inspections that monitor their work, and so far there have been no major problems – says Ante Mišura from the Directorate for Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development. There are various other spatial-temporal restrictions, such as restrictions on the navigation of trawlers, or, for example, bans on fishing in national parks, or bans on fishing during certain periods, which, according to Mišura, are quite well resolved. (Edis Felić)
Namely, according to current European regulations, fishermen must return fish back to the sea if they have exceeded the allowed catch quotas or if the caught fish were too young. The purpose of the ban on catching underage fish is actually its protection to allow for reproduction and thus preserve natural resources. However, the problem is that the catch itself is not prohibited, only the sale of underage fish. The only way to abolish the existing practice of destroying huge quantities of fish and seafood is to require fishermen to bring the entire catch to shore. WWF has long been advocating for this, and this demand is supported by some fish processors who are slowly realizing that sustainable fishing is also in their interest. (Deutsche Welle)
