Overfishing contributes to the depletion of fish stocks. Among fishing practices, discarding fish is a waste of valuable resources and results in lost income that is associated with its effects on future stock growth. This practice depends on several factors, although trawl fisheries account for the highest quantity of discards. In this work, the effects of a specific section of the Galician (Northwestern Spain) bottom trawl fishery were evaluated by using the ecological footprint, focusing on the contribution of the rate of discards. We selected fishing grounds and carbon footprints as the categories for the analysis. The results showed that 11.6 global hectares (gha) per metric ton of catch were required for an average fishing trip, ranging between 2.2 and 27.1 gha per metric ton. Discards represented 55% of this value, while the carbon footprint only represented 11%. Therefore, measures are needed to reduce the significant effects of discards, especially in these fisheries. The findings indicate that the discard ban promoted by the Common Fisheries Policy could reduce the ecological footprint of these fisheries by 3.4 gha per metric ton of catch landed on average.

中文翻译：

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西班牙北部沿海水獭拖网渔业丢弃鱼的环境影响

过度捕捞导致鱼类资源枯竭。在捕鱼活动中，丢弃鱼是浪费宝贵的资源，并导致收入损失，这与对未来种群增长的影响有关。尽管拖网渔业占丢弃物的最高数量，但这种做法取决于几个因素。在这项工作中，利用生态足迹评估了加利西亚（西班牙西北部）底拖网渔业特定区域的影响，重点是丢弃率的贡献。我们选择了渔场和碳足迹作为分析类别。结果表明，平均捕捞行程每公吨捕捞需要11.6公顷全球公顷（gha），范围在每公吨2.2至27.1 gha之间。丢弃占该值的55％，而碳足迹仅占11％。因此，需要采取措施减少丢弃物的重大影响，尤其是在这些渔业中。研究结果表明，《共同渔业政策》所禁止的丢弃物可将这些渔业的生态足迹平均每公吨捕捞量减少3.4 gha。