In many countries, policies regarding reduction of unwanted catch anddiscards are crafted in response to concerns regarding accountability, conservation,and waste as well as scientific needs to fully account for all sources offishingmortality. It is important to note, however, that unwanted catch is minimal andmost, or all, of the catch has value in somefisheries. Utilisation rates are very high,and discarding is generally not of concern in suchfisheries which occur primarily,but not entirely, in developing countries. Where unwanted catch and discards are a concern, legislation may be prescriptive, as can be seen in the EU Landing Obliga-tion (LO), and programmes established in e.g. Norway, Iceland, Argentina, Chileand New Zealand. Elsewhere, legislative language is intended to minimize unwantedcatch but allows for someflexibility in developing strategies and solutions, as in theUSA. The effectiveness of these approaches depends on many factors and all requireeffective cross-sectoral collaboration. Also essential is a comprehensive monitoringand control system which insures regulatory compliance and collection of adequatedata to address scientific and management information needs. In this chapter, weevaluate the effectiveness of discard and unwanted catch reduction approaches underdiverse legislative systems in different parts of the world, with reference to emergingpractices under the LO. We consider the importance offinding the balance betweentop-down and bottom-up processes and look carefully at different governance/regulatory frameworks (e.g. input controls, output controls, quota management andtransferability, cooperative/collaborative management), factors which encourage ordiscourage innovation and collaborative problem solving, monitoring and account-ability. This is accomplished through case studies from selectedfisheries around the world. Waste is associated with many contemporary food production processes, especiallyin developed countries. In general, producers seek to reduce waste by improvingutilisation of raw materials and avoiding unwanted materials during harvesting. Inwild capturefisheries, many strategies are available for reducing unwanted catch(UWC) during harvesting. However, these strategies are rarely completely effectivewith the result that parts of the catch are discarded at sea. Although avoidance ispreferable, discarding might be perceived as an acceptable practice under certaincircumstances, e.g. when discard-related mortality is low and, especially for rare,endangered or protected species caught incidentally, when animals can be releaseduninjured. However, for UWC where chances of survival may be small, discardingat sea is generally considered wasteful and undesirable.