The catch, net and other equipment could be contaminated by oil containers, paint tins, oil filters and other chemicals, resulting in a potential loss of revenue of up to £2,000 per incident. Large items such as wires and old nets may be collected off the seabed and may damage the nets. The image to the right, kindly provided by John Butterwith, Chief Executive of the North Devon Fishermen's Assocation, highlights how marine litter can become entangled in nets. A fouled propeller could cost up to £300 for the hire of a diver to disentangle it and result in a substantial amount of lost fishing time. It is estimated that each boat could lose between £6,000 and £30,000 per year due to the effects and presence of marine debris. If 50% of the Shetland fishing fleet was affected in the same way, the cost to the local industry could be £492,000–2,460,000 per year. Similarly, the cost of marine debris to the fishing community of the Swedish Bohus region was estimated to be over £620,000 each year.
According to reports from fishermen in both Shetland and Esbjerg (Denmark), small inshore boats appear to be more susceptible to marine debris than large pelagic boats. This may be because the larger offshore boats are fishing mid-water and are therefore less likely to collect debris on or near the seabed. Smaller boats may also notice the presence of marine debris more than larger boats as they have less crew and a lower profit margin, so any time or money lost will affect them more. Fishing vessels, along with the fish farming industry, are perhaps the main sources of discarded fishing net, line, rope, crab pots, floats, fish feed bags, polystyrene blocks and fish boxes . In turn, fishermen are finding an increasing amount of plastic debris amongst their catch, which not only takes time to remove, but plastic bottles and old net can themselves damage freshly caught fish. Moreover, there have been cases whereby plastic has blocked cooling systems causing engines to overheat. In some areas around the UK, such as the Bristol Channel, the problem has reached such a state whereby fishermen, when removing plastic items entangled in their nets, voluntarily place them in plastic bin liners for disposal by the local council at their base ports.
It has been noted that much of what is known about the impact of litter on fishing activities is based on anecdotal evidence. Litter found in an offshore fishing bank caused a serious economic loss to fishermen in Swansea Bay. The UK National Federation of Fishermen’s Organization have confirmed that marine litter is a cause of concern around Britain's coasts, but no attempts have been made to quantify the extent of the problem. Problems with propeller fouling, blocked intake pipes and damaged drive shafts have been reported in the North Sea, Alaska and the East Coast of North America According to two studies done in the Bering Sea and the Gulf of Alaska, 40–60% of bottom trawls collected plastic and metal debris. Inshore fishing is particularly important for Orkney, Shetland and the West Coast of Scotland, where the majority of small vessels are based. Scotland's fishing industry handled 71% of all UK fish landings into the UK in 1994, with a market value of some £279.3 million. Peterhead, Scotland’s major fish market, is the largest in Western Europe. The fishing industry is also a vital source of employment in Scotland. It is estimated that there are over 8,500 people directly employed as fishermen, with a further 13,000 employed onshore in fishing related activity. Many of these people live around the coastline of Scotland.
Shetland fishermen have estimated the value of one hour of their time to be £30–120 per hour (average £67). Using the average figure, the losses to an average Shetland fishing vessel would, annually, be as follows:
· £3,500–7,000 due to lost time clearing nets of debris
· £250–1,000 cleaning equipment and nets of contaminants
· £100–10,000+ due to time lost fixing nets
· £60–500 due to time lost with fouled propeller
· £2,000–10,000+ to repair nets
· £50–300 to un-foul propeller
· £100 for gear box inspection
· £6,000 – 30,000 per vessel assuming only one incident per year and working only 40 hours per week.
Practical Action: Fishing for Litter
KIMO International coordinates a project called Fishing for Litter. It is a proactive attempt to improve the quality of Europe's waters, bolstering the financial foundation of the fishing industry whilst benefiting the marine environment. Fishing for Litter is an active environmental response to the progressive increase of marine litters in the seas around Great Britain, Scandinavia and Western Europe. The aim of the original Dutch project was to clear the North Sea from litter by bringing ashore the litter that is trawled up as part of fishing activities and disposing of it on land. This is achieved by providing large hard wearing bags to the boats so that the waste can be easily collected and deposited on the quayside. Since the project launched in 2005, the number of harbours and fishermen involved have steadily increased as word spread about how simple yet effective the project could be run. The scheme now operates in all of Scotland’s Designated Landing Ports (DLPs). KIMO in partnership with Seafood Cornwall Training have recently launched the project in the South West of England and six harbours are currently participating in this region. In conjunction, the Scottish Fishing for Litter project has recently been re-launched and will run unitl 2012. The project continues to flourish in the Netherlands and Belgium.
Watch the video below and explore the Fishing for Litter project section of our website to learn more.