"Whether or not fishermen should be permitted to throw away healthy fish at sea instead of selling them to consumers will come to a head at a crunch meeting of Europe's fisheries ministers on Tuesday."
"But the UK has still not fully worked out its position ahead of the crunch meeting in Luxembourg, because the Scottish government is not convinced that bringing in a ban on "discards" by 2014 or 2015 will be good for its fishing industry.
The meeting is finely balanced – France, Portugal and Poland are among the countries that may object to a discards ban, while Spain is understood to be wavering. It is impossible to predict whether a ban, along with other key reforms, will be passed.
If the wasteful practice of discarding edible fish at sea is not banned, according to experts, the result will be the destruction of what remains of Europe's dwindling fish stocks."
Fiona Harvey reports for the Guardian June 11, 2012.
Advertisement 
