Outstanding issues regarding landing obligation exemptions requested for the 2019 discard plans

ClientEarth and Seas At Risk recommend that the European Commission reject or strictly condition landing obligation exemptions that lack sufficient scientific evidence. They argue that 'temporary' exemptions should be limited to one year and tied to binding roadmaps for improving selectivity and survivability. The authors highlight a decline in the quality of data submitted for de minimis exemptions and warn that failing to account for dead discards in 'high survival' exemptions could increase fishing mortality and jeopardize Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) objectives.

• If the Commission grants temporary exemptions without required evidence, the authors recommend they be limited to one year and subject to several conditions: the use of fully documented fisheries, the provision of missing information within one year, the use of STECF templates for disaggregated data, and a binding roadmap for maximising selectivity or survivability.
• There is a noted decline in the quality of information provided to support de minimis exemptions, including a lack of economic data, which hinders the ability of the Scientific, Technical and Economic Committee for Fisheries (STECF) to conduct full evaluations.
• The authors warn that failing to report discards under exemptions may compromise the achievement of the Maximum Sustainable Yield (MSY) objective.
• The authors express concern that the increasing number of exemptions may undermine the overall goals of the landing obligation and call for STECF to quantify this impact.

APA

ClientEarth (2018). Outstanding issues regarding landing obligation exemptions requested for the 2019 discard plans. https://www.clientearth.org/media/5z5kiwpi/clientearth-and-seas-at-risk-letter-to-commission-regarding-outstanding-concerns-about-exemption-requests-for-the-2019-discard-plans-ext-en.pdf

Chicago

ClientEarth. Outstanding issues regarding landing obligation exemptions requested for the 2019 discard plans. 2018. https://www.clientearth.org/media/5z5kiwpi/clientearth-and-seas-at-risk-letter-to-commission-regarding-outstanding-concerns-about-exemption-requests-for-the-2019-discard-plans-ext-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=ClientEarth |title=Outstanding issues regarding landing obligation exemptions requested for the 2019 discard plans |date=23 August 2018 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/5z5kiwpi/clientearth-and-seas-at-risk-letter-to-commission-regarding-outstanding-concerns-about-exemption-requests-for-the-2019-discard-plans-ext-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{clientearth2018outstanding, author = {{ClientEarth}}, title = {{Outstanding issues regarding landing obligation exemptions requested for the 2019 discard plans}}, publisher = {ClientEarth}, year = {2018}, month = aug, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/5z5kiwpi/clientearth-and-seas-at-risk-letter-to-commission-regarding-outstanding-concerns-about-exemption-requests-for-the-2019-discard-plans-ext-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }