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Farming Today: Fish discard ban, Women in dairy, Winter wildlife

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17/12/2014

Fish discard ban, Women in dairy, Winter wildlife

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, Fish discard ban, Women in dairy, Winter wildlife

As the 2015 EU fishing quota is set, we hear about the confusion over the discard ban.

As the 2015 EU fishing quota is set in Brussels, Anna Hill hears about the confusion over the discard ban, which could force fishermen to break the law.

As the EU's Fisheries Ministers hammer out the 2015 fishing quota in Brussels, Farming Today focuses on the 'discard ban', which comes into force for some fish species from January 1st.

We hear how the aim is to stop fishermen throwing back unwanted catches - fish which might not meet the quota, or if they are too small. Instead they'll have to land all the fish they catch. From 2015 this new rule covers pelagic fish - like mackerel, whiting and herring - and then will gradually include all species by 2019. 

However, fishermen are concerned that the new discard ban has to run alongside existing legislation, which makes landing everything you catch, illegal. Bertie Armstrong, chief executive of the Scottish Fishermen's Federation, is concerned that fishermen keeping to the new discard ban could actually be breaking the law at the same time. 

While the campaign group Farmers for Action is reporting making inroads, forcing the retailer Iceland to give them a better deal on milk, a new organisation's been launched for women in the industry to share their expertise. We find out why 'Women in Dairy' groups have been set up in the South West and in Cheshire - a new scheme supported by the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.

As of this week, members of the public in Cumbria and North Yorkshire will be able to protect their common land by putting it on a register - which means they'd regain the rights to walk and perhaps ride on them. These regions have been added to seven others in England which can also be put back on the Common Land Register. Nicola Hodgson of the Open Spaces Society explains what difference winning back rights to common land can mean for local people. 

Presented by Anna Hill and Produced by Mark Smalley.

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