Council pioneers fishing for litter with boats at Campbeltown and Rothesay

Argyll and Bute Council has rolled up its metaphorical sleeves to work with KIMO – the environmental organisation run by European local authorities.

KIMO  encourages fishermen to keep and bring ashore any litter they catch while fishing – and it helps them to do so by providing large, heavy duty bags so that any waste they collect can be easily stored and deposited on the quayside.

Now the Council has taken delivery of two 1,100litre bins with the branding ‘FISHING FOR LITTER – KIMO’ and placed them on the quayside at two of its main fishing ports, Campbeltown and Rothesay. The bins will be uplifted once a week from the towns’ piers.

The first boats to sign up to the scheme are:

• the Leven Mor, operating out of Rothesay;
• the Campbeltown-based Kelly Emm.

Bute Councillor Len Scoullar, Spokesperson for Islands and European Affairs and Argyll and Bute’s representative on KIMO, says he hopes these two boats will be the first of many. ‘This is a very innovative project which has been extremely successful so far in other parts of Europe.

‘Despite many programmes and legislation to reduce marine litter, it remains one of the most significant environmental problems and affects the marine environment on a worldwide scale.

Len Scoullar describes recent studies as finding that about 20,000 tonnes of litter – mainly plastics – is dumped into the North Sea alone every year. Of that, 70% sinks to the sea bed, 15% floats on the surface and 15% washes up on beaches.

‘There is an abundance of scientific evidence which proves that sea life has been significantly affected by the increase in marine waste. Thousands of species of bird, fish and mammals are suffering every year in Europe’s waters as a result of this problem’.

There are also direct economic impacts on the fishing indistry and the aquaculture industry:

• the litter can cost the fishing industry tens of thousands of pounds per boat every year through contamination of catches, broken gear and fouled propellers
• marine litter can clog and damage cages and nets

No coastal andlochside comuities are going to object to the KIMO Fishing for Litter initiative. They know first hand about thge  15% of marine litter that Councillor Scoular quotes as being washed ashore.

As he says: ‘We in Argyll and Bute have very strong links to the sea, and we must play our part in the stewardship of our local waters.

‘It is therefore essential that urgent action be taken to reduce what is currently a significant marine pollution problem, and I am delighted that the Leven Mor and Kelly Emm have signed up to Fishing for Litter. I look forward to many more local fishing boats joining the scheme over the next few weeks and months’.

For Argyll will publish the names of all participating boats, willing to take on the additinal work invoivled in the interests of creating a cleaner, safer and m rope sustainable marine environment. So keep us informed if your boat signs up or if you know of a boat that has done so.

We’re suggesting to the Council, whose very worthwhile initiative this is, that it consider creating a Roll of Honour list of participating boats (and their home ports) on its website.

The image at the top of this article is in the public domain and shows the remains of an albatross chick with ingested flotsam and jetsam.