Abstract
Discarding is a common practice in fisheries. Total discards are estimated to be about 30 million tons, representing around 23% of worldwide catches. Discarding is an undesirable practice, not only because of the waste of resources, but also because of its contribution to the overexploitation of fish stocks. Several countries have already established discard bans, to different extents (e.g., Norway, Iceland, Chile, New Zealand). The EU’s landing obligation (discard ban) is a major measure of the latest reform of the Common Fisheries Policy for EU fisheries. It aims to reduce unwanted catches in EU fisheries, by incentivizing improved selectivity and restoring fish stocks to levels that can sustain the maximum production over time without harming the biodiversity and the capacity of future generations to obtain fish. However, banning discards will inevitably induce diverse short- and long-term ecological, economic, and social impacts, which may determine whether the landing obligation’s objectives will be achieved.
Highlights
In fisheries, discards, or discarded catch, is that portion of the total organic material of animal origin in the catch which is thrown away, or dumped at sea for whatever reason
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations’ (FAO’s) code of conduct for responsible fisheries [2] identified discarding as a major problem and called for its reduction
A Fisheries Dependent Information (FDI) database containing data submitted by EU Member States under the Data Collection framework (DCF; Regulation (EU) 199/2008 [26]) has been assembled and is hosted by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC)
Summary
Discards, or discarded catch, is that portion of the total organic material of animal origin in the catch which is thrown away, or dumped at sea for whatever reason. Knowledge of the extent of discarding suffers from data availability and data quality issues [3] This is mainly because of the lack of systematic studies and the high variability in the proportions of the catch discarded in different fisheries using different fishing gears [4,5]. Alverson et al [6] estimated worldwide discards to be about 27 million tons, whereas more recently, Nellemann et al [7] reported total discards to be about 30 million tons, accounting for 23% of global catches. Discarding occurs for both legal and economic reasons. Discard bans aim to make fishing more sustainable by encouraging more responsible practices through, for example, the development and deployment of more selective fishing gears [23,24]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
