Kritiek op verspilling bij visvangst (en)

A Belgian fishing boat on Wednesday (11 August) presented a pile of discarded fish to environment organisation Greenpeace to demonstrate the "wasteful" common fisheries policy.

After each fishing expedition, thousands of dead or dying fish are thrown back into the water because they exceed allotted quotas, are too small, or from the wrong species.

The Belgian fisherman wanted to "express his disgust at being forced to waste fish and other marine life by the Common Fisheries Policy", says a press release by Greenpeace.

The bycatch, as it is known, was handed over to the Greenpeace boat MV Esperanza in the North Sea and consisted of "11,000 dead or dying marine animals".

The discards included a variety of flatfish, small cod, mackerel, sole, norway lobster, edible crab and starfish.

It was the result of a two hour beam trawl which is an indiscriminate method of fishing whereby nets are dragged along the ocean floor.

An enormous waste of fish

In all, an estimated 720,000 tonnes of waste fish and other creatures are discarded annually in the North Sea, Greenpeace says.

"A fishing policy that leads to such an enormous waste of fish and other species is a policy that needs to be rapidly abandoned if we are to protect the North Sea and the marine life it supports", said Greenpeace oceans campaigner Oliver Knowles.

"Fishing needs to be sustainable wherever it takes place if we are not to empty the oceans of fish and other marine life", said Mr Knowles.