Review of Management Options for the Landing Obligation

Section 7: Bycatch Utilisation: Balancing the Incentives to Land

7.1 Policies encouraging the full utilisation of bycatch have been used in several countries operating a discard ban, in particular Iceland, New Zealand and the US North Pacific fisheries. The UK industry fears that as a result of the landing obligation, vessels will end up with a lot of species for which there is no demand. Policies designed to increase the utilisation of bycatch have the potential three-fold effect of assuaging this possibility, help to overcome the perceived wastefulness associated with discarding, and counteract the driver to discard species that have no or little commercial value. Ideally, fish that would have been discarded but that are now landed should be used for human consumption when they are above the MCRS. However, where this is not possible, the remaining discards should be directed towards the production of usable products.

Human Consumption

7.2 The development of new markets for the bycatch of less popular species can create an incentive to land catches that typically have low or no economic value or when their value is less than the opportunity cost of taking up limited hold space. Discarding of species that have a lack of market demand is reported by Borges (2013) as the main cause of discarding across Europe and accounts for one-third of discards by the English trawler fleet (Mangi and Catchpole 2012). Several national marketing programmes have been implemented to promote the sale of bycatch.

• Iceland operated a development programme alongside its discard ban with the objective of demonstrating to fishermen and the trade that markets existed for less valuable species and promoted these amongst consumers. A 'bycatch bank' was set up in 1989 that purchased blocks of non-commercial species from boats and arranged taste panels, promotion schemes and sales to restaurants. As a result, megrim, witch/pole dab and rough dab are now specific fisheries in Iceland and other species are caught and traded through normal channels.
• The DEFRA-funded project 'Fishing for the Markets' aims to increase the market sales of unfamiliar and less-popular fish caught by the English trawler fleet. The extent to which this sort of programme would be useful in Scotland depends on the extent to which discarding is caused by weak or absent demand for the less popular species.

7.3 A strong view amongst the majority of individuals interviewed was that the notion of the Scottish industry being forced to land catch that was not marketable and held little value was something of a red herring. In contrast, a perception of one PO was that the key issue was how the requirement to land previously discarded catches would affect the market, with a specific anxiety over the possibility of market gluts and the consequent effect upon price.

7.4 The landing obligation only applies to species with TACs, therefore if a species is caught for which no quota regime and TAC exists, it can still be discarded. In areas such as the North Sea, the issues regarding the landing obligation largely revolves around the requirement to land catches of species such as hake, saithe and cod. Most TAC species are easily marketable and the view of one academic was that the demand for fish was so strong that the additional landings would be met with demand. Species such as dab, which have low market value could be the target of publicity campaigns to promote demand. The European Commission (2012) has stated that POs will receive funding for the marketing of new products. Rebranding campaigns such as the Chilean sea bass project can be successful. However, developing new markets for discarded species is rare and requires widespread changes to processing side as well as advertising and marketing campaigns.

7.5 One issue surrounding the need to land catches for commercial TAC species is that while the market for species such as cod can be filled with catches of lower value, consumer preferences for species such as saithe and hake may be more fickle. The likelihood that the market will be filled with less quality catches is a reality as fishermen will no longer be able to high-grade. This, therefore, suggests that fundamental changes will have to take place in terms of the buying of fish- both at fish markets, from processors and within retail.

Non-human Consumption

7.6 An alternative is to exploit possible channels for utilisation geared towards non-human consumption. Under the landing obligation, for all species under catch limits, MLS will be replaced by replaced by minimum conservation reference sizes ( MCRS). Fish below the MCRS will have to be landed but the sale of catches below MCRS will be limited to uses other than human consumption. The conversion of discards not fit for human consumption into useful commodities falls into 6 categories:

• reduction to fishmeal and fish oil
• ensiling
• composting
• rendering
• freezing for use as bait
• Anaerobic digestion with energy recovery.

7.7 In Catchpole and Mangi's 2012 assessment of the potential for bycatch utilisation in the UK, the conversion of fish by-products into fishmeal, fish oil, animal feed and pet feed has been identified as the most promising route. These options reflect; the state of current infrastructure in the UK, an interest by the different processors to expand current and new business models, and the least cost options for the catching sector as these commercial outlets buy discards directly from the fishermen, thus channelling income direct to fishermen and removing the industry's need to dispose of landed discards. Ensiling, liquefied fish, has been identified as a potential use, with the major ensiling plants based in Scotland. 'Waste' operations, such as composting and anaerobic digestion, are considered the least desirable partly because the costs to the catching sector will be higher (median UK gate fees for composting are £43/tonne).

7.8 Fish sold to by-product processing companies receive a lower price in comparison to the markets for human consumption. In order to improve linkages between the catching sector and facilities processing bycatch for non-human consumption, the reduction of transaction costs should be encouraged. Investment to improve existing capacity, supply routes and local containment prior to collection will be needed. Uncertainty over future discard quantities limits planning at this stage. From reviewing the distribution of processing facilities across Scotland, it is likely that new connections between these sectors will depend firstly on species, with shellfish not taken by ensiling plants, and location. The fishmeal producer United Fish Industries is located in Aberdeen, the ensiling firm Scanbio in Fort William and Rossyew, an animal, pet and aqua feed producer, is situated in Greenock.

7.9 The Northern Bluefin tuna is an example of a stock that was once taken as incidental catch and now operates as one of the world's most valuable yet heavily overexploited commercial stocks (Safina 1998). It is therefore important that incentives do not develop to purposefully target bycatch species as new markets develop and values increase. On account of the low price received when discards are used for non-human consumption, it can be assumed this is less of a risk with this option. However, the re-direction of discards towards non-human consumption could act as a disincentive to land and create compliance issues.

Section Summary

7.10 While discarding represents a wasteful practice, it is crucial that this practice is not shifted to land. There is sufficient scope to increase the prospects that less valuable and marketable species are used productively once landed.

7.11 Models of good practice in improving the marketability of less popular species are witnessed in the Iceland 'bycatch bank' and the DEFRA 'Fishing for the Market's scheme. In working to alter consumer attitudes to species such as saithe and hake, fundamental changes will be required at all supply levels.

7.12 While a general perception exists that fish should be used, where possible, for human consumption, research suggests there is scope to convert fish unsuitable for human consumption into useful commodities such as fishmeal, ensiling and bait. This is likely to require improvements and investment into improving the linkages between the catching and processing sectors.