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Scottish Fishermen Land 1000th Tonne of Marine Litter
Reaching the milestone was celebrated at Peterhead Port on Friday, 6th January 2017 Almost 1/3 of the litter has been landed there and Stephen Paterson, Deputy Chief Executive of Peterhead Port, welcomed a group of stakeholders (including Skipper Jimmy Buchan and George and Sandy Watt from Peterhead Port - part of the team of 250+ fishermen and port staff who are responsible for the success of the project) to Peterhead to mark the occasion.
Professor Colin Moffat - Head of Marine Science - attended on behalf of the Scottish Government and gave a fascinating insight into the damage done by marine litter and why projects like Fishing for Litter are so important.
KIMO UK's board were out in force with Cllr George Farlow travelling from Ullapool joining Cllr Fiona McRae and our Chair, Cllr Raymond Christie. Raymond said "Reaching this milestone is a great achievement and I would like to thank all of the crews and harbour staff who took part for their fantastic efforts to help protect our precious marine environment and shoreline.
Although unable to attend, Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform, Roseanna Cunninghame, said "Marine litter is a very serious issue both for Scottish seas and across the global oceans. It is shown to harm wildlife and the natural environment whilst impacting on our marine industries through damage to subsea and coastal infrastructure, vessels and fishing gear.
The Fishing for Litter Project supports the Scottish Government's commitment to tackling the issue of marine litter through our Marine Litter Strategy and I would like to congratulate KIMO on their success in reaching this milestone. I would also like to take the opportunity to commend those fishermen who are participating and making a real difference in cleaning up Scotland's seas."
Attending the event, Stewart Stevenson, MSP for Banffshire and Buchan Coast, added "Our north-east coastline provides a livelihood for thousands of people, as well as providing a habitat for countless species of marine lifestyle. Therefore, it's our duty to protect it and I applaud our local fishermen for going above and beyond to remove as much litter from our waters."
Here's to the next 1000!!
Fishing for Litter was been selected as one of two finalists for The Ocean Awards 2017 'Saefarers' award. This is great recognition of the hard work that continues to be done by our fishermen, ports and harbours Wish us luck for January 11th when the winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in London.
On the night, the project was pipped to the post by Land Rover-Ben Ainslie Racing's Ocean Racing team for their work on for doing the right thing in an insanely competitive sport by having the best sustainability strategy among the America’s Cup teams. Well done to them.
Fishing for Litter Scotland's future has been secured until at least 31 March 2017 by this award from EMFF. KIMO UK's Chair, Cllr Raymond Christie said " This is great news and gives us the space we need to seek funding a further phase of Fishing for Litter and prepare for an expansion in participation".
Gaining support from EMFF is further demonstration that this is a valuable initiative and recognises the effort of the fishermen and port staff in collecting almost 1000 tonnes of marine litter so far.
The Crown Estates support projects that generate value and strengthen relationships across core sectors. These partnerships deliver lasting benefits to the local communities and environments in which they operate. Check out their Stewardship Programme at http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/our-business/stewardship-programme/
To give you a flavour of what we have been doing, here is a summary of Fishing for Litter in Scotland during 2015.
Fishing for Litter Scotland has been assisting fishermen to remove litter from our seas for 10 years. With more 850 hundred tonnes of marine litter from Scotland’s seas and landed at participating ports around the coast, the project has already made a significant difference. As well helping the fishermen to land the litter that they catch, the project aims to raise awareness of the problems created by marine litter.
Partners at the John Lewis store in Aberdeen have voted to give Fishing for Litter Scotland £2772 from funds raised from the 5p/bag charge to help them with their efforts. Part of the money will be used to purchase education materials for use in local primary schools and to set up a pilot programme to encourage litter removal from beaches.
At an event in the store to present the cheque, Robert Garnish, Head of Branch at John Lewis Aberdeen commented “being a coastal city, I think the link between money raised by charging for carrier bags and working to reduce marine litter is something we can all relate to so I am delighted that Partners (staff) in Aberdeen have chosen to support Fishing for Litter Scotland. Whilst there will be a tangible benefit as a result of the funds raised, from an environmental perspective it has also been great to see a significant drop in the purchasing of new carrier bags over the past 9 months.”
Fulmars forage exclusively at sea, capturing prey from the
sea surface. They frequently ingest floating marine litter, including plastic
objects, confusing them with food. Unlike most seabirds, fulmars do not
regurgitate plastic particles but accumulate them. Ingested plastics reduce
food intake and the bird’s ability to process the food, leading to a
deteriorated body condition often associated with increased mortality and
reduced breeding success. 98% of northern fulmars now have plastic in their
stomachs. The children also heard how plastic bags are mistaken for jellyfish and
eaten by sea turtles.
After examining a range of marine litter collected from
Collieston Beach, the children made some great suggestions for helping to solve
the problem – from more bins to beach cleans to the recruiting ‘litter police’. At the end, they discussed KIMO UK’s
‘Pick up 3 Pieces’ initiative. This
simple initiative invites visitors to beaches to make a difference by taking
just three pieces of litter home every time they visit. If everyone in Scotland’s coastal communities
did this every month, 55 million pieces of litter would be removed from our
beaches.
If want to get involved with Pick up 3 Pieces, visit www.pickup3.org.uk. The initiative is being promoted as part of KIMO UK’s Fishing for Litter project and is just getting underway.
KIMOUK's Chairman, Cllr Raymond Christie said "Thank you to the RSPB and Northlink Ferries. This award is great recognition for the hard work carried out over the last ten years by fishermen and harbour staff right around the Scottish coastline. Marine Litter is a huge problem and we all need to do as much we can to stop litter, particularly plastic, getting into our seas. The world is just waking up to the fact that we need to stop putting rubbish in our seas and oceans and start taking it out"
Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and the Environment said “Marine litter is a serious issue in Scottish seas and across the global oceans, litter can harm wildlife and the marine environment. It also impacts on our marine industries through damage to subsea and coastal infrastructure, vessels and fishing gear.”
“I am delighted that Fishing for Litter has received an award for marine conservation, this ground-breaking project is making a real difference in cleaning up Scotland’s seas and this award is recognition of their excellent work would encourage others to follow their lead and consider the actions they can take to ensure that litter does not enter the marine environment.”
Ross Dougal, President of the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation, said: “We are delighted that the work of our fishermen in removing marine litter has been
recognised with this prestigious award. Scottish fishermen are enthusiastic participants in the Fishing for Litter initiative and are committed to ensuring that our seas are clean and healthy.”
KIMO International’s President, Karsten Filsø (Holstebro Kommune, Denmark) said “I am delighted to hear of KIMO UK’s success in winning this award for its Fishing for Litter Scotland project. Marine litter is one of the most significant global problems affecting the marine environment, killing seabirds, fish and mammals. It’s an eyesore on our beaches and costs the fishing industry money in lost time. Through the Fishing for Litter initiatives, the KIMO organisation along with ports and fishing vessels are making a positive contribution to reducing litter in our seas, which benefits marine wildlife, our fishing industry and our coastline.”
