The end of the line - good & bad practices

Successful practices of fishing are happening but they are still rare. In Alaska the catch is shared between a limited number of boats (limited permits given out) and fishing is only allowed within certain time limits. The fishermen there recognized that this practice will secure their jobs in the long-term as it keeps the fish populations in Alaska alive.  

In Europe the situation is different. Iceland is the good example. It has strict regulations but the fishermen adhere to them, can still make a living and see a future for their profession. There's practically no discard of fish. Good for them! It is important to have the fishermen on the right side. As long as there is fishermen out there that deny the collapse and disappearance of fish bad (illegal or legal) fishing practices will continue. Film review & Icelandic fishing practice 

The European Union is world-leader in overfishing and still protects the fishing industry more so than the fish. But the EU commission, it sounds rather ridiculous, is working on eliminating the discard of fish. Especially the North sea is "mixed fishing" which causes lots of discard. When a fishing boat has reached their quota for one fish they keep fishing to reach their quotas for other fishes. In doing  so they have by-catch of the fish whose quota has already been reached so they throw it back into the water. While some politicians urge to stop discard now, others are willing to wait until 2013 to implement new rules.  "Unethical" fish discards have to end, EU commission says


Googling  "European fish catch quotas" comes up with lots of articles calling for radical change in regulations for the European fishing industry. Politicians are slow to act though and getting the whole EU to an agreement is often a painful, time-consuming process. But time's running out. That's why certain fisheries have started to take on their own changes. Scotland, terribly overfished, is trying a new quota system. "The Scottish Government was able to make conservation a priority while securing increased fishing opportunities for some stocks, and minimise reductions where science supported such action".  New catch quota scheme progressed, Scotland 

If only we would learn faster from the success of others and change quicker for the better.