Scots skippers lead oceans clean-up

A pioneering project to clear the North Sea of litter has been so successful it is to be extended into the North Atlantic.

Thanks to the efforts of the Scottish fishing fleet who have exceeded the target set for them by an environmental body three years ago, the pilot scheme is to be launched in other countries.

Three years ago, a multinational environmental body, Kommunenes Internasjonale Miljo Organisasjon (Kimo), examined the options available to address the worsening problem of North Sea and North Atlantic pollution.

It is estimated that 20,000 tonnes of rubbish is dumped in the North Sea every year. Supermarket bags, household white goods, non-degradable plastics and litter from shipping ends up in our waters.

The result is a loss of fishing time, mounting environmental clean-up bills and the early deaths of marine animals.

Recent studies in Holland, for example, showed that 98 per cent of North Sea fulmars collected for laboratory tests contained plastics in their stomachs. Turtles have also been known to gobble polythene bags, thinking they were jellyfish.

That is why Kimo came up with their Fishing for Litter programme. Its introduction in Scotland has been so successful that it is now being extended into the North Atlantic.

"When we started the programme, the goal was to take 200 tonnes of rubbish out of the sea in the first three years. We have now reached 215 tonnes," beams Tom Piper, Kimo's UK co-ordinator.

"It has been a huge success, especially when you consider that the only thing the people who are involved are getting from the project is good karma."

At a basic level, what Fishing for Litter provides to fishermen can be compared to councils making wheelie bins available to local residents.

The main difference is that the litter is collected at sea and brought to the shore to be disposed of. Skippers are supplied with large hard-wearing sacks and, instead of throwing the rubbish ensnared in their nets back overboard, they bag it and bring it back to port.

When landing their catch of whitefish or prawns, they also load their rubbish onto the quayside and harbour authorities take it away for disposal. Not only has the project made a tangible difference to aquatic animal life, it is allowing fishermen to do what they do best - catch fish.

"In the past, we have picked up oilskins, televisions, washing machines, trees and remote controls. We have lifted old paint pots that have spilled paint all over our catch and wasted five hours' work," explains Jimmy Buchan, a langoustine fisherman who skippers Amity II from Peterhead.

"If something like a discarded sleeping bag gets caught in the nets, it is basically like a door closing. Sand and silt builds up and the net stops fishing. We need to be as productive as possible when we are at sea these days so it makes sense to be cleaning all this stuff out.

"I first started as a skipper 26 years ago and I have seen the sea getting worse. We are custodians of the planet. We need to break the bad habits of the past."

Not only does dealing with marine litter waste time, it eats up money. Cleaning beaches of old shoes, oil drums, milk cartons and beer cans is the responsibility of local authorities with more pressing service priorities. In 2008, RNLI lifeboats attended 286 UK incidents in which vessel propellers were stuck fast by rubbish choking the blades, leading to over-heated engines.

The rationale for a project such as Kimo's, therefore, is undeniable. "Not only is it about physically removing litter from the sea, it is also encouraging best practices in the fishing fleet," adds Piper. "Half of the Scottish fishing fleet is involved in this now and we hope that, within the next three years, we will get the rest on board, too."

"It is a recommendation of Ospar (Oslo and Paris conventions on marine litter] that all North Atlantic states facilitate fishing for litter programmes so this is feeding into a wider, international strategy to tackle the problem."

It may not be too long before rubbish collected at sea is recycled like domestic refuse. Kimo facilitators in Scotland have met with obstacles in that much of the general haul of rubbish is spoiled by barnacles and unfit for recycling.

However, further methods are to be investigated and there is hope that solutions can be found. Should this come to pass, it would break a cycle of littering that skipper Jimmy Buchan believes started long ago. "When I was young, people used the sea as a dumping ground," he says.

Thankfully, those errors of the past are being tackled. The hope is that all that the sea washes up in the future is salt water and shells.

For more information visit www.kimointernational.org/Home.aspx

This article was first published in The Scotsman, 19 March, 2011