Integrated bio-economic impact of the landing obligation on the Dutch North Sea sole fishery: Task 1.3 of the project Best Practices II

To reduce the discarding practice in fisheries and promote better selectivity, the EU has introduced a landing obligation. The implementation of the landing obligation started in 2015 and since 1 January 2019, all catches of stocks under quota management must be landed (with someexemptions). The Dutch flatfish fishery has always had a large amount of plaice discards while targeting sole and is now faced with a challenge to reduce those discards. While the fishery still benefits from exemption for plaice, the results of this report show that a strict implementation of the landing obligation would have negative implications for the fishing sector without necessarily benefitting the fish stocks. The estimated survivability, higher than the one currently assumed in assessment, also means that the impacts will be larger. Tests to improve selectivity by using 90mm mesh sizes instead of the traditional 80mm show that more work is needed to develop gears that avoid unwanted catch while retaining targeted fish.