LORDS TO QUIZ ACADEMICS ON THE FISH DISCARDS BAN

The House of Lords EU Committee will tomorrow question leading academics in marine studies in the final evidence session of their short inquiry into reform of the Common Fisheries Policy and the implementation of a discard ban. 

The Committee hear evidence from Professor Chris Frid, from the School of Environmental Sciences and the University of Liverpool and Professor Jesper Raakjaer from the Department of Development and Planning at Aalborg University. 

The Committee will ask the witnesses about the provisions to regionalise the Common Fisheries Policy and whether they are confident that this will ensure improvements across the EU. The session will also explore what evidence there is to suggest that some fish can survive after being caught and could therefore be thrown back into the sea, and how those circumstances can be taken into account in the new policy. The witnesses will also be asked about the UK and EU research base for fisheries policy making and what the European Commission and Member States could do to support more research in this area. 

The evidence session will start at 11am on Wednesday 17 July in Committee Room 2 of the House of Lords.