EU officials should work with fishing industry

Northern Isles MP Alistair Carmichael has called on EU officials to work with the fishing industry on the introduction of a ban on fishing discards after the announcement that the practice is set to be phased out from 2014.

Fish discarding has resulted in more than one million tonnes of healthy fish being thrown back dead. Campaigners have criticised the EU regulations, describing them as wasteful and harmful to the fisheries industry.

The changes announced after meetings in Brussels last week will see a ban on the discarding of mackerel and herring from 2014, while bans on the discarding of cod, haddock, plaice and sole will be introduced from 2015 or later.

The agreement reached also included measures that will offer member states a bigger say in the management of fisheries around their own coastlines.