Since 2002 Germany is obliged to collect fishery data to support the European Common Fishery Policy. Sampling of the com-mercial fishery under German flag is one duty within the EU fisheries data collection programme. During the past 6 years, 148 fishing trips were sampled by scientific observers onboard commercial fishing vessels to collect data on catch composi-tions with special emphasis on the proportions of landed and discarded fish. The results show that the proportion of discard is depending on the fishery. Highest discard rates were observed on beam trawl fishing trips. At the level of individual fishing trips, discard rates varied extremely within a fishery segment. Highest variations were found in the beam and bottom otter trawl fishery. In contrast, the discard rates in high-seas fisheries were low
