MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands’ fishing industry concerned with levels of rock cod discarded

Director of Fisheries, John Barton

More than 15,000 tonnes of rock cod has been discarded so far this year from the Falkland Islands finfish fisheries. Rock cod has taken over from Southern Blue Whiting as the key finfish species in local waters, but such high volumes of waste are a concern for industry regulators.

The total catch of rock cod so far in 2010 is 67,000 tons, of which it is reported that 23% has been discarded. And, while not an illegal activity, officials are eager to explore ways of reducing the discard level.

“It is clearly in the interests of the fishery and the industry which relies on it to reduce discards,” said Director of Fisheries John Barton.

All vessels are obliged to report catches and discards accurately, as a failure to do this would constitute an offence. The discarded fish are included in the overall assessment, and therefore effectively count against the total allowable effort or catch. But the reasons for discarding vary, and some issues are easier to address than others, said Mr Barton.

“The majority of fish being discarded are too small to process. In some cases a total catch of 30 tonnes of rock cod may be caught by a trawler in a day, of which 1– 3 tonnes might be discarded.

“In other cases small rock cod re-caught as a by-catch of the loligo fishery and are discarded. In the first case it may be possible to reduce the catch of small fish by increasing mesh size, and we need to run some trials on that. In the case of the loligo fishery it is difficult to alter the mesh size significantly as the current mesh size is appropriate for that fishery”

There also is an element of discarding of rock cod of all sizes by some companies who see it as low value, or perhaps do not have the right processing equipment.

This type of discarding should be deterred or stopped, said Mr Barton, and the obvious solution would be for such vessels to change fishing area. While there might be some issues surrounding the accuracy of discards, vessels generally reported discards, he said, regardless of whether or not they had fishery observers on board.

“Rock cod have become widely distributed throughout the zone and some discarding of small fish is a common feature,” said Mr Barton.

“Area restrictions would have their limitations, as it might be difficult to maintain viable fishing opportunities while avoiding the smaller fish. Increasing the mesh size of the nets may be the solution, and that is to be investigated.

The other issue which has been considered is whether discards could be retained and subsequently processed onshore.

“The initial interest was in whether this could provide a local source of fertiliser. There would be a number of technical issues to overcome in terms of storage and processing. While such a process would reduce wastage it is unlikely to be a low cost operation”. (PN)