Are No Discard Policies really so “unrealistic”?

The Spanish fishing industry and government are strongly pushing back against a proposal to ban discards in EU fisheries.   In fact, the Spanish Minister for Fisheries, Rosa Aguilar, has described the ban as ‘unrealistic’.

But why should this be the case?  Haven’t both Iceland and Norway banned discards in most of their fisheries?  Clearly, it’s do-able and good for economic and biological sustainability.

Perhaps the real story is a no-discard policy would leave fishing companies dipping into the red?  So how do we make responsible fishing profitable?