Fishing vessels voluntarily taking part in the current Fishing For Litter project have removed over 100 tonnes of marine litter form the seas around Scotland since April 2008 in a bid to tackle the pollution problem.
The recent milestone means that the Fishing For Litter scheme in its various forms has now removed more than 215 tonnes of debris from Scottish seas.
The simple scheme that encourages skippers to land litter they catch as part of their normal fishing activities is now established as normal activity in 16 of Scotland’s Harbours and vessels are continuing to sign up to the project. Staff at KIMO, a marine pollution NGO that runs the independent scheme, hopes that funding can be found to keep the project running for a number of years to come.
The project co-ordinator Tom Piper said “I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the crew members of the boats and the harbour staff who volunteer their time to clear the seas of litter and make the project work.”
KIMO Chairman Councillor Norman MacDonald of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar said “I am delighted that the project has reached this milestone and is continuing to clean up the marine environment by removing significant amounts of this litter.”
