EU confirms intention to reshape fisheries policy

Young's Seafood welcomes confirmation by EU Fisheries Commissioner Maria Damanaki, of her intention to reshape the Common Fisheries Policy with the ultimate objective of achieving the elimination of discards, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Young's Seafood. 

Chief executive of Young's, Leendert den Hollander,says:

"We welcome moves to try to tackle discards as we believe the practice is unacceptable. Discards are both a waste of resources and a barrier to long term sustainability in fisheries. Just as our consumers oppose wasting food, we oppose the wasteful practice of discarding fish.

The system must be reformed as throwing away fish, is clearly wrong. We have campaigned against discards for many years and are actively involved with fishery improvement partnerships to drive change. We take our responsibilities very seriously and that's why one of the actions we take is to encourage consumers to try a wide variety of fish species.

We believe that the process of reform must be tackled carefully and moved at pace because we won't have sustainable practice across Europe while discarding continues. Any time wasted will result in more fish being wasted. Action must be taken now to end this wasteful practice."

Read the full text of Commissioner Damanaki's statement.