Save
The #FishFight twitter campaign started by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and supported by Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Jamie Oliver - is increasing it's pressure on European Ministers as they meet to decide whether to accept or reject a ban on fishing discards.
Under current European Fisheries Policy, trawlers that catch too much of a certain fish are forced to discard them, leading to figures that suggest that as much as two thirds of all fish caught in the EU is put back into the water.
Maria Damanaki, the EU fisheries chief, has backed plans to ban the practice of discarding, something which is being decided on today. However, reports from the Guardian newspaper, suggest that a group of states led by France and Spain will hi-jack the council meeting of the EU ministers to present a declaration against the ban.
They believe an outright ban on discarding is 'un-realistic' and that instead there should be an 'ambitious objective of a significant reduction in discards.'
This news comes as a blow to the Fish Fight Campaign which has over 750,000 supporters including a number of celebrity advocates such as, Colplay, Ricky Gervais, Richard Branson, Stephen Fry and many more.
In a clever move the campaign is now listing all the European ministers twitter names allowing people to send messages supporting the ban directly to them. Many believe that large fishing companies are against the ban as it can often be more profitable to discard smaller fish and instead wait for larger more expensive catches. If the declaration is passed the ban will most certainly be halted.
The issue of over fishing, sustainable fishing and large amounts of fish being discarded in the sea is a growing concern and today's decision is seen by many as something that can set a benchmark for change. The campaign has supporters worldwide all of whom believe a ban on discards is needed to stop the waste of millions of fish every year.
The meeting, which takes place at 15:00 CET , will be streamed live on the European Union website and we'll keep you posted on all the news as it breaks.
