Images and words by Ben Conway
Above: Newlyn Harbour.
In recent years, the commercial fishing industry has had to cope with a good deal of bad press and high profile campaigns intended to redirect the fish-consuming public’s purchasing choices. However, very little has been made of the efforts of some fishermen to contribute to the cleaning up of our oceans and to make positive contributions to the health of the marine environment. For the commercial fisherman, the ocean is their primary workplace and many around Cornwall are taking the time to bring the ocean-borne rubbish that they encounter back to land where it can be disposed of properly.
The initiative behind this development is called Fishing for Litter. The project provides hardwearing bags to fleets in participating harbours and fishermen are encouraged to collect litter caught in their nets at sea and bring it back to port. The project itself covers the cost of disposal. Fishing for Litter is coordinated here in the south west from Newlyn, adjacent to Cornwall’s busiest working harbour. Currently, the scheme operates in the UK only in Scotland, Cornwall and Devon, but the expansion of the project into fresh territories is sure to be something that many who use and enjoy the marine environment would be glad to see.
Fishing for Litter’s Liaison Officer for the south west, Clare Leverton, confirms that the growth of the initiative is something that is being looked towards, ‘We do wish to develop the project into new areas but this depends upon communication with the fishing fleets and the operational ability of the ports. The scheme will work wherever there is a keen and willing fleet that wants to bring back the litter collected, plus the harbour and waste companies to complete the chain. Once these issues are dealt with then it’s just funding that is needed to pay for the waste removal’. She adds that a key aspect of the project is promoting litter consciousness within the fishing fleets themselves, ‘Fishing for Litter makes notices for display on board fishing vessels explaining the OSPAR and MARPOL regulations. The project promotes and encourages good practice and raises awareness of the issues that marine litter can create’.
Background
The Fishing for Litter project originated in the Netherlands in 2000 and spread through pilot schemes operated by KIMO International (an association of European local authorities campaigning on marine pollution issues) to Sweden, Denmark and Scotland. The Scottish Fishing for Litter initiative began in 2005 and has continued as a series of three year projects. There are fourteen ports currently participating: 11 in mainland Scotland and 3 in Shetland [1].
Fishing for Litter came to the south west in 2009 after KIMO UK were approached by representatives from the Cornish fishing industry. There are currently nine Fishing for Litter harbours in the south west with a further two partaking in a similar initiative. Seven of these ports are in Cornwall. Since the beginning of Fishing for Litter in the south west, the project has accounted for the removal of over 150 tonnes of marine litter [2].
To find out more about Fishing for Litter in operation, I went to two prominent Cornish harbours currently participating; Newlyn on the south coast and Padstow on the north. Rob Atkinson, Harbour Master at Padstow, emphasised that the harbour as a whole was happy to take part, ‘I think it’s been successful so far. We don’t have the biggest fishing fleet in the world and we don’t pick up a whole lot of litter but we’re keen to be seen to be doing something’. When asked about whether the fishermen were enthusiastic about the project he added, ‘Yes, the fisherman are keen. They’re taking fish out of the sea and they’re keen to protect the environment’.
Down at Newlyn, Deputy Harbour Master Paul Oliver was similarly positive about the participation of fishermen there, ‘It’s certainly a good thing and it’s surprising how many fishermen are actually involved. Even the small punt men, if they see a plastic bag out there, they’ll pick it up and bring it in’. He added that the scheme itself had positively influenced the fishermen’s attitude to litter in general, ‘The fishermen are getting a lot better, they’re not chucking it over themselves in the first place. Even their food rubbish they’re bringing in and putting in our ordinary skip so it does make a big difference’.
Both men commented on how the type of fishing gear used greatly affects the volume of litter collected at sea and how much is brought back to land. In Padstow, Rob Atkinson said, ‘We don’t have any vessels that really use towed gear. There’s a few visiting beam trawlers that come in here but most of ours is static gear. The netters go out, they pick it out, bring it back in and put the bags into the skip. The skip gets emptied two maybe three times a year’. Newlyn, by contrast, has a much higher proportion of boats using trawling gear. According to Paul Oliver, the trawlers there are responsible for bringing in the majority of the litter, ‘Obviously a lot of it has sunk to the bottom so they’ll be picking it up off the bottom. I suppose we do about one skip a month that we fill. You’ll see a lot of rope in there, metal stuff, shoes, bottles, plastic is a big thing’.
Above: Fishing for Litter skip at Newlyn.
Plastic pollution is widely considered to be one of the most critical and lasting issues affecting marine life. The magnitude of the problem is reflected in Fishing for Litter statistics that lightweight plastic has composed 88% of the catch volume recovered in the south west since the beginning of the scheme. Paul Oliver believes that, ‘A lot of it comes from the bigger boats, chucking their tins and plastic over and all the rest of it. The MARPOL law states that if you’re outside a certain area or a certain limit from the shore then you don’t have to keep your rubbish you can just chuck it over, which is not a good idea’.
MARPOL
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) aims to prevent pollution of the marine environment by ships from operational or accidental causes. The Convention is currently composed of six technical Annexes with Annex IV and V covering the disposal of sewage and garbage from ships respectively. Crucially, Annex V specifies a complete ban on the disposal of plastics at sea [3]. However, it is difficult to check whether these regulations are being strongly adhered to, particularly when vessels are operating on the high seas, and there does seem to be some variation between nations on how strictly compliance is monitored and the severity of the penalties imposed when infractions occur [4] [5].
Amongst the high volumes of plastic debris, lost fishing gear can also be substantially represented, as Rob Atkinson confirmed, ‘There’s a lot of gear discarded out there that’s ghost fishing. When the fishermen are bringing discarded gear up and bringing it in and landing it, it’s useful to be able to put it in the Fishing for Litter skip. It’s also good because if we recover stuff from the estuary, we get bits of trawl net washed up, we can put that in the Fishing for Litter skip too’.
Importantly, the practical side of the initiative seems to be working well in both harbours. When asked if the enthusiasm for the scheme amongst the fishermen is good, Paul Oliver said, ‘Yes, the Fishing for Litter lot provide the half tonne bags and the fishermen are always asking for the bags so they’re filling them all the time. I reckon the ones that are doing 7-8 day trips are filling a bag a trip so it’s quite a bit’. Rob Atkinson added that the Padstow fishermen were pragmatic about actively removing the litter, ‘They don’t want it out there. It’s more to junk up their nets’.
Perhaps the last word on whether the project is a practical success could be whether these harbours already participating would recommend the scheme to those that have yet to sign up. When questioned about whether he would like to see Fishing for Litter spread throughout the rest of the country, Paul Oliver responded positively, ‘Oh definitely yes, I’d like to see it all the way around’. In Padstow, Rob Atkinson echoed those sentiments, ‘Yes, I’d like to see it continue and go through the country’.
So what does the future hold for the Fishing for Litter initiative? According to Clare Leverton the project is currently, ‘Seeking funding to continue to remove the waste collected from the marine environment’. She foresees further advances into the treatment of some of the collected materials stating that, ‘There is a need to investigate recycling of some litter’. The Fishing for Litter scheme is undoubtedly a forward-thinking approach to combatting marine refuse and is very much in line with current European legislation affecting the marine environment, as Clare expands upon, ‘The project has been shown to be effective in contributing towards OSPAR’s marine litter objective and is also a proven tool to help achieve Good Environmental Status under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive’.
Marine Strategy Framework Directive
The European Union’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) came into force in 2008 and aims to protect the marine environment across Europe, obligating member states to achieve ‘Good Environmental Status’ (GES) of the EU’s marine waters by 2020. In order to achieve this, each member state is required to develop a strategy for its marine waters which must be kept up-to-date and reviewed every 6 years. The MSFD is based upon the ecosystem approach to the management of human activities which have an impact on the marine environment, and integrates the concepts of environmental protection and sustainable use [6].
The OSPAR Convention
The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR convention) entered into effect in 1998. The OSPAR objective with regard to marine litter is ‘to substantially reduce marine litter in the OSPAR maritime area to levels where properties and quantities do not cause harm to the marine environment’. This aim is in accordance with the MSFD, where GES can be seen to be achieved, when ‘properties and quantities of marine litter do not cause harm to the coastal and marine environment’. In addition, OSPAR undertakes monitoring to provide information on the amount, type and trends of marine litter in the North East Atlantic [7].
References
[1] Fishing For Litter (no date) What is Fishing For Litter?. Available at: http://www.fishingforlitter.org.uk/what-is-fishing-for-litter (Accessed: 2 February 2016).
[2] Fishing For Litter (no date) Fishing For Litter South West. Available at: http://www.fishingforlitter.org.uk/project-areas/south-west (Accessed: 2 February 2016).
[3] International Maritime Organization (no date) International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). Available at: http://www.imo.org/en/About/Conventions/ListOfConventions/Pages/International-Convention-for-the-Prevention-of-Pollution-from-Ships-(MARPOL).aspx (Accessed: 24 February 2016).
[4] Clark, R. (no date) Pollution Legislation in the UK and the EU – An Overview. Available at: http://www.nautinstlondon.co.uk/nautinstlondon/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Ron-Clark-Paper-Pollution-legislation-in-the-UK-and-EU.pdf (Accessed: 28 February 2016).
[5] Grasso, J.M. and Linsin, G.F. (2011) Current Trends In MARPOL Enforcement— Higher Fines, More Jail Time, The Banning Of Ships, And Whistleblowers Galore. Available at: http://www.mondaq.com/unitedstates/x/148086/Marine+Shipping/Current+Trends+In
+MARPOL+Enforcement+Higher+Fines+More+Jail+Time+The+Banning+Of+Ships+And+
Whistleblowers+ (Accessed: 28 February 2016).
[6] European Commission (no date) Legislation: the Marine Directive. Available at: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/marine/eu-coast-and-marine-policy/marine-strategy-framework-directive/index_en.htm (Accessed: 28 February 2016).
[7] OSPAR Commission (no date) Marine Litter. Available at: http://www.ospar.org/work-areas/eiha/marine-litter (Accessed: 28 February 2016).
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