Birds, discards and decision-making

Fish discards are big news. On average, some 8% (6.8 million tonnes) of the total catch by weight of marine organisms caught by fishing boats worldwide are discarded every year, of which about 1.3 million tonnes are discarded in the fisheries of the northeast Atlantic, mostly in European Union (EU) waters (Kelleher 2005). What are discards? Put simply, discards are an unwanted catch. They could be fish that are of no commercial value, fish that are below the legal landing size, fish for which a vessel has no quota (or for which their quote share has run out), damaged or spoiled fish, or other organisms of no value.JRC.G.3-Maritime affair