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A project involving 162 fishing vessels from 17 Scottish harbours has ensured that over 242 tonnes of rubbish has been taken from the seas since 2008.
The Fishing for Litter initiative, run by KIMO with funding support from the public and private sectors, aims to remove litter from the sea and encourage better waste management in the fishing industry. Scotland's fishermen, who take part in the project voluntarily, are already reporting the benefits of fishing in cleaner seas.
KIMO estimates that marine litter costs the Scottish fleet 11.5 million pounds each year – in repairs to gear, dumped or contaminated catch and lost fishing time – which equates to around 16,000 pounds for each skipper. Monitoring has revealed that 50 per cent of litter landed was plastic and polystyrene.
KIMO UK project co-ordinator Tom Piper said: "Marine litter has become an increasing problem in our seas and can be very harmful to marine life. It also has implications for fishermen, damaging fishing gear and contaminating fish.
"With over 200 tonnes of rubbish removed in three years, Fishing for Litter has been a success. However, this could not have been achieved without the participation of Scottish fishermen, therefore I thank all the crew members of the boats and the harbour staff who continue to volunteer their own time to clear the seas of litter."
Scottish Fisheries Secretary Richard Lochhead applauded the scheme, saying: "Fishing for Litter is a straight forward and effective way to remove litter from the sea and its success is down to the active participation of the fishing industry and Scottish harbours. In tough financial times for the Scottish fleet, the cost implications of marine waste demonstrate why we need to take action to remove litter from our seas.
"I'm pleased that the Scottish Government has been able to provide 80,000 pounds to help support the scheme, including 10,000 pounds towards the continuation of the Fishing for Litter project until 2014."
KIMO (Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljøorganisasjon) is an international environmental organisation founded by local authorities with a shared interest in safeguarding the marine environment of the North Sea.
Participating vessels are given hard wearing bags to collect marine litter caught in their nets during normal fishing activities. Full bags are landed and disposed of in dedicated skips on the quayside. The project covers the waste disposal costs.
In the three-year period of the current project, 242.1 tonnes of litter have been removed from the sea, and over 365 tonnes in total since the project was first established in 2005.
Plastic, the predominate type of marine litter, can cause entanglement or be ingested by marine mammals.
‘Save the North Sea’ research showed 96 per cent of fulmars in the North Sea had plastics in their stomachs, while a recent study by Plymouth University highlighted the abundance of microscopic plastic fragments in the marine environment
Fishing for Litter is funded by a range of partners including a number of local councils, the Scottish Government, the offshore oil and gas industry, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Fishermans Federation and the Crown Estate. Funding has been secured for the project to continue until March 2014. The project also benefits from the time given to the project by the staff at all the participating harbours.
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