SCOTTISH fishermen who worried about moved to install CCTV cameras on fishing boats are being urged to look at the Danish experience before finally making up their minds.
The decision has being made to reduce fis dumping at sea, but some fishermen feel it is an Orwellian style 'Big Brother' move. However, a similar step has been taken in Denmark and already it is being hailed as a success.
Aqua Scientist Lotte Kindt-Larsen from Denmark Technical University said: 'We normally don't have access to this kind of data except for having observers onboard, but now we are filming everything and we have data for every day they go out.'
Each year one million tonnes of fish are dumped back dead into EU waters - either legally because legislation stops skippers landing what they have caught, or illegally when fishermen throw away small fish for larger, more profitable ones. The Danes say their study has shown the quantity of discards decreases when cameras are installed.
The discards row has meant that fishermen have come in for a lot of criticism. But one Danish skipper Fin Svendsen, of the Kingfisher, was keen to sign up to the scheme. Mr Svendsen said: 'I think it's a good idea to have onboard because then we can show how much we catch without discards.'
The Danish government wants to allow boats with cameras to land and sell more fish - a move they say is achievable because existing quotas already deduct discards from the amount fishermen are allowed to catch.
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