I think, to a certain degree they, and others, are missing the point.
First the Captain. What choice does he have? Any of you lot fancychucking in your wages over point of principle? And what is not clear from the original post is if the fish are within the sizes allowed. If not he has no choice but to dump them under EU law. This law is of course completely ignored by many countries, such as Spain.
Second. It is absolutely the fault of any Government who agrees and backs such policies, either those in power at the time, or subsequent Governments. The truth of the whole situation is that the whole EU process is fundamentally flawed.
Third. Quota systems, and especially those "underpinned" by metrics such as fish size, are flawed, especially as the techniques used to catch fish are not mandated, and therefore cannot fully enable the small fish to be released.
The only way to preserve stocks, in my opinion, is to do some form of "rotation" system, much the same as farmers did before fertilizers. Leaving areas "fallow", such as (I think) the Icelanders have done, and introducing more stringent rules over the methods used are a much better way to ensure a properly managed system.