Environmental Implications of Discarding Fish in Northern Spanish Coastal Bottom Otter Trawl Fisheries

Abstract

Overfishing contributes to the depletion of fish stocks. Among fishing practices, discarding fish is a waste of valuable resources and results in lost income that is associated with the impact on future stock growth. This practice depends on several factors, although the highest quantity of discards is produced in trawl fisheries. In this work, the impacts of a specific fraction of the Galician (northwest Spain) bottom trawl fishery were evaluated using the ecological footprint, focusing on the contribution of the discarding rate. The fishing grounds and carbon footprints were the categories that were selected for the analysis. The results showed that 11.6 global hectares per ton of catch were required for an average fishing trip, ranging between 2.2 and 27.1. Discards represented 55% of this value, while the carbon footprint only represented 11%.Therefore, measures are needed to reduce the significant impact of discards, especially in these fisheries. The findings indicate that the discard ban promoted by the Common Fisheries Policy could reduce the ecological footprint of these fisheries by 3.4 global hectares per ton of catch landed on average.