Fishing for Litter

Fishing for Litter is a Europe-wide initiative which started in a single port in the Netherlands. In 2004 KIMO International started a project to address the problem of marine litter. The project known as Fishing for Litter reduces marine litter by involving the fishing industry, engaging the ports and fishing vessels. Fishing boats are given big bags to collect plastics, ghost gear and other debris that gathers in their nets during normal fishing activities. Back in port, the bags of litter are collected for recycling or disposal. The scheme currently operates in 9 EU Member States already (covering the Adriatic, England, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Croatia, Netherlands, Norway, Scotland and Spain) and more countries will be joining shortly. In 2016 the scheme was adopted by OSPAR and included in its Regional Action Plan. In 2019, it was included as “passively fished waste” in the new European Port Reception Facility Directive. In 2022 this Directive will come into force nationally and will apply to all EU coastal Member States.