Galicia demands more flexibility in fishing discards required by the EU

The General Director of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Technological Innovation of the Xunta de Galicia, Mercedes Rodríguez, today defended in Brussels a greater flexibility in fishing discards that establishes the European Union.

Brussels, November 15 (EFE) .- The General Director of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Technological Innovation of the Xunta de Galicia, Mercedes Rodríguez, today defended in Brussels a greater flexibility in the fishing discards established by the European Union.

This was expressed at the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions organized by the Directorate General of Mar of the European Commission, in which he reiterated the difficulty of applying "the policy of zero discards" in the short and medium term.

In this sense, Rodríguez explained the position defended by the Xunta de Galicia, which is committed to "progressively avoid fishing discards based on rigorous studies in which each species and each fishing ground is evaluated."

The counselor also deepened in concrete proposals such as rent or purchase of quotas or the creation of a community reserve of accidental catches.

Finally, Rodríguez also stressed that the The obligation to land the catches "clashes with the criterion of allocation of fishing quotas".

In this sense, the councilor recalled that the Xunta de Galicia commissioned a I study a research group from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) to learn about "the cost of compulsory landing of catches and their influence on employment".