The vessels' catch and storage capacity and quality of landed whitefish. Increased quality of whitefish landings from the coastal fleet

Summary

Improved quality of fish landed by the coastal fleet has an impact on value creation and profitability, will reduce food waste and help strengthen the reputation as a seafood nation. Since we have a market failure the first-hand market for whitefish from the coastal fleet, we proposes regulations that include fishing vessels and fishermen's behavior which comprises: Soaking time especially for gill nets, but also long-line, catch size for Danish seiners, fast bleeding and immediately cooling, storage in crates, containers or tanks without the fish coming into pressure, gentle handling and fast gutting. We propose a certification scheme for vessels and catch handling that covers these conditions as well as a simple mandatory scheme for documenting knowledge on quality management for fishermen. It is also pointed out that today's regulations are not enforced consequently. Concrete improvements in regulations are also proposed.