Hake, ling, cod and saithe are particular species that are abundant, but with quotas out of line with stocks, fishermen fear fisheries will be shut down rapidly as quotas are taken early and boats forced out of business.
The dire prospects facing the industry were highlighted at a recent meeting of the Seafish discards action group (DAG), attended by Scottish whitefish and nephrops and whitefish skippers, all members of the Scottish Whitefish Producers Association, along with almost 40 other delegates from all sectors of the industry.
Seafish in its report on the meeting, said the skippers believed the major issue was choke species, hake and ling in particular.
