Northern Ireland launched a new initiative on Thursday (20 February) that calls on fisherman to land waste trawled up in their nets during normal fishing operations as part of a drive to reduce marine litter.

The Fishing for Litter scheme, based upon a similar scheme already running in Scotland, was launched by Northern Ireland’s Environment Minister Mark H Durkan at the Ardglass fishery harbour last week to ‘engage the fishing industry to improve waste management practices and reduce the amount of marine litter’.

Project details

Delivered by the Northern Ireland Fishery Harbour (NIFHA), which manages the three main fishery harbours of Ardglass, Kilkeel and Portavogie and represents 95 per cent of the fishing fleet and industry, the scheme has two main goals:

• to maintain a network of harbours where participating boats can land marine litter (such as plastic bottles; string, food wrappers; carrier bags; and fishing debris); and
• to change the working practices within the fishing industry to help prevent litter reaching the marine environment in the first instance.

Northern Ireland’s Department of the Environment (DOE NI) is providing £40,000 of funding over two years for the project.It is expected the money will be mainly used for ‘education, publicity and waste disposal (skip hire, landfill and waste bags), with a small amount for administration’.

Under the new initiative, participating vessels (so far 17 boats) will be given ‘hardwearing bags’ to collect marine litter that is caught in nets during fishing operations. Filled bags will then be deposited on the quayside, at which point staff will move the bags to dedicated skips for monitoring, collection and disposal.

Though formally launched on 20 February 2014 the scheme will only be active in Ardglass until extended to Kilkeel, ‘later in 2014’ and Portavogie in ‘early 2015’.

‘Marine litter injures and kills’

Speaking of the new scheme, Durkan said: “Marine litter is more than a visual affront, it injures and kills. An estimated eight million items of litter enter the world’s oceans each day. Seals and dolphins mistake litter for food, or become entangled in it. Pictures of seal pups entangled by plastic debris are truly heartbreaking. Globally, an estimated one million sea birds are killed annually through entanglement or ingestion of this rubbish.

“Marine litter also damages livelihoods and can cost each fishing vessel between £15,000 and £17,000 a year. Items commonly caught in fishing nets and trawls include pieces of plastic and polythene, rope and cord, nets, bottles, rubber, metals and textiles. If not recovered, all these items would eventually end up on our seabed or littering our beaches and shoreline.”

He commended the NIFHA for ‘taking direct action to help address this issue’, especially as skippers and crews will not receive any financial compensation for participating.

He added: “The initiative represents a positive, modern attitude towards good operating practice and the fact that over 15 boats have already signed up for the scheme indicates the commitment our fishermen feel in their role as guardians of the marine environment. This is the motivation to participate and I encourage more boats to join the scheme.”

Kevin Quigley, Chief Executive for the NIFHA added: “I am delighted that our ports will participate in KIMO’s network of Fishing for Litter schemes currently in operation across Northern Europe. While we are not responsible for the seas outside of the limits of our ports, I am looking forward to working with DOE on rolling out this project that will improve the quality of life for the fishing communities NIFHA serve. This is a project to protect the marine environment for future generations and one I am proud to tell my children about.”

The Fishing for Litter scheme is compatible with the goals of the Northern Ireland Marine Litter Strategy (launched last summer), which aims to reduce the levels of litter entering the marine environment and works to remove litter that is currently present on the coast.

Marine litter is becoming a growing concern to governments across the UK, with Scotland launching the Draft Marine Litter Strategy last year.

Find out more about Fishing for Litter or discover how abandoned fishing nets are being recycled into new products.