Impatient consumers
Danamaki has recently received over five hundred thousand signatures from a consumer campaign in the UK. They require ending discards must be top priority in the reform of the EU policy. The consumer initiative together with fishermen's observations that there are less fish in the sea, means that the EU is now impatient to find a solution.

Head of fisheries research, Vegar Johansen from SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture, participated with a speech at the meeting where he talked about how we work with the discard issue in Norway and Scandinavia. The Nordic countries have to some extent succeeded in avoiding discard, but in our waters the challenge with a mixture of fish species is much less than further south in Europe, making the discard control easier.

Framework is a success criterion
Mr. Johansen told the audience that the most important lesson learnt in the Nordic countries regarding discard, is the introducing a ban of discard. But for such a ban to work it must be accompanied by monitoring and sanctions if rules are violated. The rules must be clearly communicated to the fishermen and the system must be designed so that it takes into account the inevitable by-catch due to the nature of mixed fish stocks.

Technical development
Research and development done by SINTEF Fisheries and Aquaculture and others on fish selectivity devices or special fishing gear design for reduction of bycatch has indeed been developed and introduced in the Norwegian fishing industry. Devices for both avoiding non-targeted species and small fish has proven their ability to contribute to reduce bycatch for decades, and Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries has even stated that such devices has been vital to save the Barents sea.

Although research on mesh sizes, net panels and other sorting devices have been focused on for many years, the potential for further improvement in this area is still high. The goal must be that unwanted fish should be avoided or sorted out before it is trapped in the fishing gear. Proper design of fishing vessels and processes on board will also contribute to safer working conditions in the harsh weather and provide better fish quality.

The fishermen need to be involved
One of the success criteria for implementation of measures for discard reduction, is involvement from fishermen in the development of both regulatory measures and technical measures. Technical measures can be introduced by means of rules, but must be learned and accepted by fishermen. Therefore, knowledge on handling of new technology and consequences on violating governmental regulations should be developed in cooperation with the fishermen.

SINTEF, as a research organization, is dedicated to developing technology that may contribute to reduced discards in the EU. We do this partly through EFTP (European Fisheries Technology Platform) which the Fisheries Commissioner pointed out as one of the most important initiatives to develop sustainable fisheries in the EU.