A CELEBRITY chef's campaign has drawn attention to the problem of discards but failed to offer any solutions, say fishing bosses.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's high-profile Fish Fight series has drawn huge numbers of viewers on Channel 4 and more than 600,000 people have signed up to support the campaign online.
But while the River Cottage cook may have highlighted the issue of fish being thrown overboard, he has not offered enough answers as far as fishing groups are concerned.
The National Federation of Fishermen's Organisations said in a statement: "There is no doubting the man's energy, commitment and astute approach to publicity. But the answers to those questions are not at all clear. Having marched us up to the altar of eliminating discards, where do we go from here?
Click here for more
"Perhaps Hugh recognises the limits to his many competencies and having highlighted the irrationality and obscenity of discarding mature cod and other valuable species in a hungry world, leaves it to others to develop the solutions."
For Newlyn's fishermen, the issues are more complex than those seen on the show, which focussed mainly on fishing in the North Sea, said Paul Trebilcock of the Cornish Fish Producers' Organisation (CFPO).
"Discarding, as a headline, is a bit more complicated than that. Yes, discarding is an issue in Newlyn but it is nothing like the scale of what we have seen on Hugh's stuff."
Fishermen from the port try not to catch fish like cod, which has little Total Allowable Catch (TAC) rather than catch it and throw it back, he said, adding that there was "a mismatch between quota and what is there". He said by-catch, like spurdog, porbeagle and some species of skate, was still a major issue for the CFPO.
"Netting boats from time to time can catch large amounts of spurdog and they have to be thrown back, usually dead," added Mr Trebilcock. "If Hugh and the minister want to genuinely address discards from our point of view, we want to look at regulatory discards."
The CFPO is working with local fishermen to create a sustainable solution to deal with unwanted fish – often species for which there is no market demand – on a local level.
They have been in talks with shellfish sellers to see if the owners of crab pots can use some kinds of fish that buyers reject as bait as a small step towards resolving the issue.
article copyright THE CORNISHMAN