Main problem:
Pollution
Subproblem:
Industrial pollution
Consequence:
Destruction of habitats
Solution:
Reducing marine litter

Fishing for Litter

The project is designed to reduce the amount of marine litter in our seas by physically removing it and to highlight the importance of good waste management amongst the fleet.

Fishing for Litter is a simple idea. Participating vessels are given hardwearing bags to collect marine litter that is caught in their nets during their normal fishing activities. Filled bags are deposited in participating harbours on the quayside where they are moved by harbour staff to a dedicated skip or bin for disposal. Operational or galley waste generated on board, and hence the responsibility of the vessel, continues to go through established harbour waste management systems. The project provides the bags and covers all waste costs.

The Fishing for Litter initiative was originally started by the North Sea Directorate of the Dutch Government in co-operation with the Dutch Fisheries Association in March 2000. The aim of the initiative was to clear the North Sea of litter, by providing bags to bring ashore litter that was gathered in nets as part of fishing activities and disposing of it responsibly on land.Pilot schemes, operated by KIMO International, were run as part of the Save the North Sea Project in Scotland, Sweden, Netherlands and Denmark until 2005. The Scottish project was set up at this time and has remained active ever since. Fishing for Litter South West was set up in 2009 after fishing industry representatives from Cornwall approached KIMO UK to see if the project could be replicated in Cornwall and Devon. KIMO continues to operate Fishing for Litter projects in the Netherlands, the Isle of Man, the Faroe Islands and the Baltic Sea. Affiliated pilot projects have also taken place in Milford Haven, Wales and Northern Ireland.