You can refer the site www.fao.org for your studies.

Dear Hugo,

You can find some papers on catch composition from German fleets from the North Sea and Baltic Sea, that's very biological:

Probst, W. N., Berth, U., Stepputtis, D., and Hammer, C. 2011. Catch patterns of the German Baltic Sea trawl fleet targetting demersal species between 2006 and 2009. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria, 41: 315-325. (Available at ResearchGate)

Ulleweit, J., Stransky, C., and Panten, K. 2010. Discards and discarding practices in German fisheries in the north Sea and Northeast Atlantic during 2002-2008. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 26: 54-66.

Otherwise, some good papers on discards/by-catches are:

Sardà, F., Coll, M., Heymans, J. J., and Stergiou, K. 2013. Overlooked impacts and challenges of the new European discard ban. Fish & Fisheries.

Hall, M. A. 1996. On bycatches. Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, 6: 319-352.

Bellido, J. M., Santos, M. B., Pennino, M. G., Valeiras, X., and Pierce, G. J. 2011. Fishery discards and bycatch: solutions for an ecosystem approach to fisheries management? Hydrobiologia, 670: 317-333.

Kelleher, K. 2005. Discard in the world's marine fisheries. An update, Rome. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper: 470. 134 pp. (available online).

Hope that helps.

Dear Hugo,

it is not easy to answer your question as not many studies on socio-economic issues are done so far. Due to the discard ban now as part of the new CFP there is a paper by A. Hatcher Environmental and Resource Economics 58: 463-472) which may include a bit on the reasons for discarding from an economic perspective. The references in that paper may give you a list of older papers which you can explore.

There is some upcoming work in the SOCIOEC project (www.socioec.eu) but also that will have to do with the new discard ban.

Regards

Ralf

Dear Chandravadan thanks for your advice.

Dear Wolfgang,

your suggestions are really good, in fact you point out several papers that I did not know. Sure will read all the works in your list. Thanks so much for devoting your time and for sharing your knowledge about discards

Dear Ralf,

You are right; my question is not easy to answer. A. Hatcher´s paper seems an  accurate and updated guide ( I read his work about compliance in fisheries and I liked it). You hit it right talking about the new CFP, currently is a key issue on discards.

I loved the link. I will spend some time exploring www.socioec.eu I sure that will be useful too.

Thanks so much.

Fishing policy nis a mixture of fishermen motivation (marketing) and ecological significants. Therefore the final result is a golden pathway betwen those concepts

Dear Hugo,

Some papers on Economics of bycatch are:

Pascoe S (1997) Bycatch management and the economics of discarding. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper. No. 370, 137 p.

Meltzer L et al. (2012) Management Implications of the Biodiversity and Socio-Economic Impacts of Shrimp Trawler By-Catch in Bahía de Kino, Sonora, México. Plos one 7(6): e35609. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035609

Lobo AS et al. (2010) Commercializing bycatch can push a fishery beyond economic extinction. Conservation Letters 3(4): 277–285.

Patrick WS, Benaka LR (2013) Estimating the economic impacts of bycatch in U.S. commercial fisheries. Marine Policy 38: 470-475.

Hope this will be useful,

LO.-

Dear Sebastian,

Thanks so much for you suggestions. For sure your list contains not only relevant, bus also really updated information about discards. Thanks for the amount of references in your list, for sure will be very useful.

Dear Luis:

Thanks for your help. I loved that you focus your suggestions in point out updated information. Thanks its perfect.

Dear Moshe

With few words you have made me think, in fact I must think deeply your explanation. Thanks for your help.

Enclose find a list of my "fishy" papers. Chooise 1 or 2 aqnd let me know.

Gophen, M.  1980.  Food Sources, Feeding Behavior and Growth Rates of Sarotherodongalilaeum (Linnaeus) Fingerlings.  Aquaculture 20(2):101-115.

  Gophen, M. and A. Scharf.  1981.  Food and Feeding Habits of Mirogrex Fingerlings in Lake Kinneret (Israel).  Hydrobiologia 78(1):3-9.

Drenner, R. W., G. L. Vinyard, M. Gophen and S. R. McComas.  1982.  Feeding Behaviour of the Cichlid Sarotherodon galilaeus:  Selective Predation on Lake Kinneret Zooplankton.  Hydrobiologia 87(1):17-20.

Gophen, M., R. W. Drenner and G. L. Vinyard.  1983a.  Fish Introduction into Lake Kinneret - Call For Concern.  Fish. Mgmt. 14(1):43-45.

 Gophen, M., R. W. Drenner and G. L. Vinyard.  1983b.  Cichlid Stocking and the Decline of the Galilee St. Peter's Fish (Sarotherodon galilaeus) in Lake Kinneret (Israel).  Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 40(7):983-986.

 Gophen, M., R. W. Drenner, G. L. Vinyard and P. Spataru.  1983.  The Cichlid Fishery of Lake Kinneret:  History and Management Recommendations.  IN:  International Symposium on Tilapia in Aquaculture.  Nazareth, Israel. 8-13/5/1983.  Proceedings.  pp. 1-7.

 Spataru, P. and M. Gophen.  1985a.  Feeding Behaviour of Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) (Val.) and its Impact on the Food Web in Lake Kinneret, Israel.  Hydrobiologia 120:53-61.

Spataru, P. and M. Gophen.  1985b.  Food Composition of the Barbel Tor canis (Cyprinidae) and its Role in the Lake Kinneret Ecosystem.  Environ. Biol. fish. 14(4):25-301.

Spataru, P. and M. Gophen.  1985c.  Food Composition and Feeding Habits of Astatotilapia flaviijosephi (Lortet) in Lake Kinneret (Israel).  J. Fish. Biol. 26:503-507.

Gophen, M. and U. Pollingher.  1985.  Relationships Between Food Availability, Fish Predation and the Abundance of the Herbivorous Zooplankton Community in Lake Kinneret.  Arch. Hydrobiol. Beih. Ergebn. Limnol. 21:397-405.

Spataru, P. and M. Gophen.  1986a.  Food Composition of Tristramella simonis simonis (Gunther 1864) in Lake Kinneret (Israel).  J. Aquacult. Tropics 1:11-117.

 Spataru, P. and M. Gophen.  1986b.  Food and Feeding Habits of Capoeta damascina (Cyprinidae) in Lake Kinneret, Israel.  J. Aquacult. Tropics 1:147-153.

 Spataru, P., W. J. A. R. Viveen and M. Gophen.  1987.  Food Composition of Clarias gariepinus (= C lazera) (Cypriniformes, Clariidae) in Lake Kinneret (Israel).  Hydrobiologia 144:77-82.

 Spatarus, P. and M. Gophen.  1987a.  The Food and Benthophagous Feeding Habits of Barbus longiceps (Cyprinidae) in Lake Kinneret (Israel).  Arch. Hydrobiol. 110(3):331-337.

 Spataru, P. and M. Gophen.  1987b.  Food Composition of Tristramella sacra (Gunther 1864) (Cichlidae) in Lake Kinneret (Israel).  Israel J. Zool. 34 (3/4):183-189.

 Gophen, M.  1988.  Scientific Background and Management Recommendations for Lake Kinneret.  Mada (Science) (in Hebrew).  31(A6):281-285.

Gophen, M., B. Azoulay and M. N. Bruton.  1988.  Selective Predation of Lake Kinneret Zooplankton by Fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus.  Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 23:1763-1765.

Landau, R., M. Gophen and P. Walline.  1988.  Larval Mirogrex terraesanctae (Cyprinidae) of Lake Kinneret (Israel): Growth Rate, Plankton Selectivities, Consumption Rates and Interactions with Rotifers.  Hydrobiologia 169:91-106.

 Gophen, M. and S. T. Threlkeld.  1989.  An Experimental Study of Zooplankton Consumption by the Lake Kinneret Sardine.  Archiv. Hydrobiol. 115:91-95.

Gophen, M. and S. Serruya.  1990.  Fish Predation Effects on Plankton Community Structure in Large Lakes:  Lake Kinneret IN:  Ecological Structure and Function in Large Lakes (M. Tilzer and C. Serruya, Eds.).  Springer-Verlag. 645-660.

Gophen, M., S. Serruya and P. Spataru.  1990.  Zooplankton Community Changes in Lake Kinneret (Israel), During 1969-1985.  IN:  Trophic Relationships in Inland Waters (P. Biro and J. F. Talling, Eds.).  Hydrobiologia 191:39-46.

 Walline, P., S. Pizanty, M. Gophen and T. Berman.  1990.  The Ecosystem of Lake Kinneret, Israel. ICES.C.M. 1990/L:39 p.1-8.

Ochumba, P.B.O., M. Gophen and U. Pollingher.  1991.  Feeding habits of Tilapias in Lake Victoria:  Background studies for fishery recovery design.  Proceedings of the Symposium on Socio-economic Aspects of Lake Victoria Fisheries, Vol. 2.  FAO-UNDP-IFIP:RAF/87/099-WP/07/91.

Bruton, M. N. and M. Gophen.  1992.  The Effect of Environmental Factors on the Nesting and Courtship of Tilapia zillii in Lake Kinneret, (Israel).  Hydrobiologia 239:171-178.

Gophen, M., P. B. O. Ochumba, U. Pollingher and L. S. Kaufman.  1993.  Nile Perch (Lates niloticus) invasion in Lake Victoria (East Africa).  Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 25:856-859.

Zohary, T., J. Erez, M. Gophen, I. Berman-Frank and M. Stiller.  1994.  Seasonality of

  stable carbon isotopes within Lake Kinneret food web.  Limnol. Oceanogr. 39(5): 1030 - 1043.

Ochumba, P. B. O., M. Gophen and U. Pollingher.  1994.  Ecological changes in Lake Victoria after the introduction of Nile Perch (Lates niloticus):  the catchment, water quality and fisheries management.  In:  Rehabilitation of Freshwater Fisheries (I. G. Cowx, ed.).  Fishing News Books.  Blackwell Scientific Publications Ltd. Chapter 31:pp. 338-347.

Ochumba, P.B.O., M. Gophen, and U. Pollingher. 1994. Ecological Changes in Lake  Victoria after the invasion by Nile perch (Lates niloticus). in: Recent Trends in Research on Lake Victoria Fisheries. Proceeding of the second EEC Regional Seminar on Recent Trends in Research on Lake Victoria Fisheries. Organized and hosted by Kenia Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI). 25-27 September 1991, Kisumu, Kenia. (E.Okemwa, E.O. Wakwabi, and A. Getabu, eds.)  ICIPE Science Press. pp.29-39.

Gophen, M.,  P. B. O. Ochumba, and L. S. Kaufman. 1995. Some   aspects of perturbations in the

 structure and biodiversity of the Ecosystem of Lake Victoria.  Aquatic Living Resources

 8,(1):p. 27-41.         

Gophen, M.,Y. Yehuda, A. Malnikov, and G. Degani,. 1998. Food composition of the fish

 community in Lake Agmon. Hydrobiologia,380: 49-57.

Lienesch, P.W., and M. Gophen. 2001. Predation by inland silverside on an exotic  cladoceran, Daphnia lumholtzi, in Lake Texoma, U.S.A Journal of Fish Biology 59, 1249 -1257.

 Gophen, M. 2004. Ecohydrological management of Lake Kinneret: A case study.Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology.  Vol.4, No, 4 397-408.

 Lienesch, P.W., and M. Gophen. 2005. Size selective predation by Inland Silversides on an exotic cladoceran, Daphnia    lumholtzi. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. The SouthwesternNaturalist 50(2): 158-165.

Lienesch, P.W., and M. Gophen. 2001. Predation by inland silverside on an exotic cladoceran, Daphnia lumholtzi, in Lake Texoma, U.S.A Journal of Fish Biology 59, 1249-1257.

Gophen, M., and B. Azoulay, 2002. The trophic status of zooplankton communities in Lake Kinneret (Israel). Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 28: 836 – 839.

Easton, J. and M. Gophen. 2002. Trophic relations between zooplankton and bleaks (Acanthobrama spp.) in Lake Kinneret (Israel). Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 28: 1258 – 1261.

Gophen, M. 2002. The management of Lake Kinneret (Israel): Water supply, water quality and food web structure perspectives.Proceedings (Volume 2)  of The Water and Environmental Research ICWRER 2002  (G. H. Schmitz, ed.), Dresden, Germany. Vol. 2 pp.275 – 285.

Gophen, M. 2003. Water quality management in Lake Kinneret (Israel): Hydrological and food web perspectives. J. Limnol., 62

(Suppl. 1): 91-101, 2003.

Easton, J. and M. Gophen, 2003. Diel variations in the vertical distribution of fish and plankton in Lake  Kinneret: a 24-h study of ecological overlap. Hydrobiologia 491:91-100.                                                                                                                                            Gophen, M. 2003. Hydrology and management of Lake Kinneret aimed at water quality protection. In: Water in the  Middle East and in North Africa: Resources, Protection, and Management. Springer-Verlag. pp. 41-54.

Gophen, M. 2004. Water Utilization in a semi-arid zone, the Hula Valley (Israel): Pollutant removal, agriculture and   ecotourism management. in: Water in the Middle East and in North Africa: Resources, Protection, and management .(F. Zreiny & H. Hotzl  eds.). Springer-Verlag, pp. 207-226.

Gophen, M. 2004.Hydrology and management of Lake Kinneret aimed at water quality protection.. in: Water in the Middle East and  in North Africa: Resources, Protection, and management.(F. Zreiny & W. Jaeschke eds.) Springer-Verlag, pp. 207-226.

Gophen, M. 2004. Ecohydrological management of Lake Kinneret: A case study. Ecohydrology and Hydrobiology. Vol.4, No, 4 397-408.

Lienesch, P.W., and M. Gophen. 2005. Size selective predation by Inland Silversides on an exotic cladoceran, Daphnia  lumholtzi. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc. The Southwestern Naturalist 50(2): 158-165.

Gophen, M. 2008. Lake Management Perspectives in Arid, Semi-Arid, Sub-Tropical and Tropical Dry climate. Proceedings of  TAAL 2007: The  12th World Lake Conference, (Sengupta, M. and Dalwani, R. Editors), 2008: 1338 – 1348.

Gophen, M. 2008. Long term (1970 – 2001) Eco – Hydrological Processes in Lake Kinneret and its Watershed. In:  "Climatic Changes and Water Resources in the Middle East and in North Africa", Invited Chapter (H. Zereini  Springer. pp 373 – 402

Gophen, M., O. Sonin, and D. Golani, 2013. How Cormorant Impact The Kinneret Ecosystem (Israel)? SIL newsletter, December 2013, pp. 20-21.

Gophen, M. 2014. Competitive consumption of the Lake Kinneret (Israel) plankton by Hypophthalmichthys molitrix and  Sarotherodon galilaeus. Open Journal of Ecology, 2014, 4, 532-542.

Hi Hugo, I am studying discards too (using fisheries-independent data to estimate the number of fish discarded) - perhaps you could email me direct and we can work a little together?

Statistical aspects of discard sampling with observers are given in Fish and Fisheries 8, 123-152.  ICES has run 2 or 3 study groups on European discards.  FAO has published  summaries of global discarding.  ICCAT now has much information on discarding and bycatch associated with tuna fisheries;- contact the Secretariat in Madrid for a lead in.  Frankly, all this is just scratching the surface.  Your problem may be that there is too much information on discarding to sift.  A 'most relevant' paper may not exist!

Dear A.J.R.

I have been researching a little bit, and you are right, all the papers suggested here just are the top of th iceberg. My question its just a way to begin the study of discards, and I afraid that this most relevant paper doesn't exist. Thanks you very much for your answer. Kind regards

Hugo,

you may want to narrow your search by fishing gear, discarded species, fishing ground or any other relevant factor... you may after all find your most relevant paper!

I just realised you are interested on socioeconomic aspects. Here are a few leads, aiming at opening your search possibilities rather than answering all your questions:

Performance assessment of bycatch and discards governance by regional ...

By Eric Gilman, Kelvin Passfield, Katrina Nakamura

There is also a researcher at the University of Iceland, Gisli Pálsson, if I remember correctly he has done some work on this as well.

Cheers

Elena

http://icesjms.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/08/24/icesjms.fst120

http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/documentation/studies/discards/annex_en.pdf

Dear Hugo,

I copy here some works:

Batsleer, J., Poos, J., Marchal, P., Vermard, Y., & Rijnsdorp, A. (2013). Mixed fisheries management: protecting the weakest link. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 479, 177–190. doi: 10.3354/ meps 10203

Feekings, J., Bartolino, V., Madsen, N., & Catchpole, T. (2012). Fishery discards: Factors affecting their variability within a demersal trawl fishery. PLos One, 7(4). doi: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0036409

Sardà, F., Coll, M., Heymans, J. J., and Stergiou, K. 2013. Overlooked impacts and challenges of the new European discard ban. Fish & Fisheries.

I hope they would be helpful for you.

Shahram

Dear Sharam:

Thanks so much for your help. All the best

Dear Hugo,

I am afraid that there is no seminal paper on "socioeconomic issues about discards". However, there are a few more to add to the list the above contributers already provided you.

Hall, S. J., & Mainprize, B. M. (2005). Managing by‐catch and discards: how much progress are we making and how can we do better?. Fish and Fisheries, 6(2), 134-155.

Zeller, D., & Pauly, D. (2005). Good news, bad news: global fisheries discards are declining, but so are total catches. Fish and Fisheries, 6(2), 156-159.

Machias, A., Vassilopoulou, V., Vatsos, D., Bekas, P., Kallianiotis, A., Papaconstantinou, C., & Tsimenides, N. (2001). Bottom trawl discards in the northeastern Mediterranean Sea. Fisheries Research, 53(2), 181-195.

The first of the above papers covers some socioeconomic issues, the others have less coverage.

Dear Jorge, thanks so much  for your advice. For sure these articles will be useful in my research!! All the best