D. Valentinsson, M. Ulmestrand, Species-selective Nephrops trawling: Swedish grid experiments, Fisheries Research, Volume 90, Issues 1–3 Presentation of evidence in support of a 7% De minimis for Nephrops in Western Waters (ICES area VII) – Technical and economic difficulties in reducing unwanted Nephrops catches. Introduction Under Article 15(4)(c) of EU Regulation 2013 No.1380 the landing obligation shall not apply to catches falling under a de-minimis exemption. Article 15(5)(c) states that de-minimis exemptions of up to 5% of total annual catches of all species subject to the landing obligation shall apply: where scientific evidence indicates that increases in selectivity are very difficult to achieve; or: to avoid disproportionate costs of handling unwanted catches. This paper presents the case for a de-minimis exemption in relation to small Nephrops below the MCRS caught in the Nephrops fishery in ICES Area Vll. Typically, discard rates of for Nephrops in ICES area VII range from 20 to 30% depending on functional unit and overall market preferences. Clearly, this is undesirable and reducing discards would provide stock benefits by reducing fishing mortality and also reduce sorting which is generally labour intensive. Macher et al, show that a better exploitation pattern would benefit fisheries that have high level of discards. Reducing Nephrops discards leads to positive net present values of rent with better value realized from the production potential and limited short-term losses for the fishing units. However, achieving such improvement in practice is problematic. Here we present a case for a de minimis exemption on the basis that “scientific evidence indicates that increases in selectivity are very difficult to achieve” and following on from the STECF (EWG 13-16) interpretation of this article, that in practice, we demonstrate that significant improvements are not possible with the currently available tools without incurring significant losses of marketable catch.
D. Valentinsson, M. Ulmestrand, Species-selective Nephrops trawling: Swedish grid experiments, Fisheries Research, Volume 90, Issues 1–3 Presentation of evidence in support of a 7% De minimis for Nephrops in Western Waters (ICES area VII) – Technical and economic difficulties in reducing unwanted Nephrops catches. Introduction Under Article 15(4)(c) of EU Regulation 2013 No.1380 the landing obligation shall not apply to catches falling under a de-minimis exemption. Article 15(5)(c) states that de-minimis exemptions of up to 5% of total annual catches of all species subject to the landing obligation shall apply: where scientific evidence indicates that increases in selectivity are very difficult to achieve; or: to avoid disproportionate costs of handling unwanted catches. This paper presents the case for a de-minimis exemption in relation to small Nephrops below the MCRS caught in the Nephrops fishery in ICES Area Vll. Typically, discard rates of for Nephrops in ICES area VII range from 20 to 30% depending on functional unit and overall market preferences. Clearly, this is undesirable and reducing discards would provide stock benefits by reducing fishing mortality and also reduce sorting which is generally labour intensive. Macher et al, show that a better exploitation pattern would benefit fisheries that have high level of discards. Reducing Nephrops discards leads to positive net present values of rent with better value realized from the production potential and limited short-term losses for the fishing units. However, achieving such improvement in practice is problematic. Here we present a case for a de minimis exemption on the basis that “scientific evidence indicates that increases in selectivity are very difficult to achieve” and following on from the STECF (EWG 13-16) interpretation of this article, that in practice, we demonstrate that significant improvements are not possible with the currently available tools without incurring significant losses of marketable catch.