Irish Fisheries in deep crisis and needs radical reform.

[x]

"Another lengthy piece from Mr Ryan. Well worth a read, as always.

http://www.greenparty.ie/en/news/latest ... cal_reform

Irish Fisheries in deep crisis and needs radical reform

""Mr. Ryan said that for years politicians bent the rules to look after the short term interests of fishermen but they can no longer ignore the wider public who also have an interest in seeing our wild fish stocks protected rather than driven into extinction."""

[quarterflounder]

A party political brodcast on behalf of the green party. To be fair the facts stand up without any political bias. I think it's ludicrous that a skipper thows good fish overboard because it's not his quota.

If I was EU Fisheries boss I'd pursue an EU based fixed price per kilo minimum rate for each species of fish. Once your boat has made your money no more fishing in that financial year. Certain boats can target specific fish at specific times of the year but if other fish are caught they end up as profit not seagull food. It would be economical to bring the non target fish in as they would get a guaranteed price for them and thus save money as they might not need to set to sea so frequently. By fishing less often less young fish are killed.

It could also be criminalised that no fish be thrown overboard unless alive. Not particularly enforceable (although a sealed CCTV unit on the boat would fix that).

Also trends would become apparent very quickly if boats were landing nothing but young fish. Dead young fish could also be guaranteed a rate - so no waste. If it was made to be economically neutral - ie it was worth bring to port but not targeting then that would help. It could be used for cat food or whatever. I don't see the point in wasting it.