A senior European Commission official has admitted that the commission is facing big problems in implementing the discards ban.
Ernesto Penas told an international conference in Vigo, Spain, the conflict between the legal obligation on fishermen to land all quota species they catch and existing regulations forbidding them from landing catches for which they do not have quota will create "difficulties."
He also acknowledged it will be necessary to introduce flexibility mechanisms such as the ability for fishermen to be able to exchange quotas between species to implement the legislation.
“It
