Ships equipped to clean up rubbish from North Sea
The federal government has equipped fishing boats and wind turbine maintenance ships with huge rubbish bags to haul litter they come across back to port
‘No cost to fishermen’
Fishing boats have already been recruited by the Fishing for Litter project. The boats have been equipped with big bags for about a year. When full, they are brought to port, where they are handled by the government’s marine environment department.
“Rubbish caught up in fishing nets was often just thrown back in the sea for practical reasons – the cost of bringing it in was too high,” a spokesperson for De Backer explained. “We now provide them with rubbish bags so they can deposit the trash at the port. There’s no cost to the fishermen at all.”
The wind turbine maintenance ships also showed an interest in the idea, and they have now been issued with big bags. The ships already pick up rubbish from the sea within their concessions, but the Fishing for Litter project provides a way for the rubbish to be dealt with once brought to land.
“Of course we’d like nothing better than for more and more people and organisations to help clean up our North Sea and keep it that way,” De Backer said. “I hope to see others follow this example.”
Photo courtesy Electrolux
