January 2, 2019 — The United Kingdom’s fishing industry faces a “grave” threat from a new European Union policy due to be introduced on Tuesday, a House of Lords committee warned after hearing evidence on how fishing quotas will be enforced.
The new rules alter how discarded fish affect the quotas for each species. In the past, fish that were discarded would not count towards the total haul by crews. The new regulations mean that fishers must bring back their total haul, in a measure designed to reduce waste caused by dumping dead but unwanted fish.
Barrie Deas, the chief executive of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, described the rules, which will be phased in over a four year period, as “badly designed.”
According to evidence presented to the House of Lords EU Energy and Environment sub-committee, crews could reach their quotas for each year much earlier than before. That would mean they would have to stop their fishing until quotas were renewed.