24th Jul 2009 - 00:00
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Technology to help reduce fish discards will be installed on Scottish vessels over the next few weeks on a trial basis.
Seven skippers have been selected from a list of volunteers to participate in the pilot using CCTV to enhance monitoring, control and observation capability. Fisheries secretary Richard Lochhead says: "The scandal of dumped fish has shot up the agenda since we held our Discards Summit and revealed that around £40 million worth of marketable fish is thrown back into the North Sea every year. "Any discarding is a scandalous waste of valuable and legitimate food resource and I am determined to support measures to ultimately eliminate such practices from the fishing industry both at home and abroad. Such wasteful and deliberate actions cannot be allowed to continue." Sustainably-sourced fish and seafood is a prominent issue for the catering industry with charities such as the Marine Stewardship Council dedicating a fishery certification program to the ethical procurement of fish.