Giannoukas Eletherios is one of the youngest fishsermen that are part of the project, since he is only 25 years old. He takes action in the area of Dodecanese Sea with the two family owed trawlers ‘’Elefterios” and ‘’Asteri”. 

R: How many years have you worked as a fisherman? How did your occupation with fishing begin?

G.E.: I have been involved in this business since I was very young, starting with my great-grandfather who first got involved in inshore fishery. Then in 1996, we bought the first trawler and after a while we bought the second one. Currently, I am responsible for one trawler and my father for the other.

 R: Could you describe a day in the sea?

G.E.: We usually leave the port in the evening and after about an hour’s journey we throw our nets into the sea. Each boat trip lasts about 3 hours and this process is repeated until we return to the port every 2 or 3 days. Then we will send our fish to the central market of Piraeus. Life on a trawler is quite monotonous especially for a person my age. You can’t stand this job easily, if you don’t love the sea. 

R: What differences do you notice regarding the amount of waste compared to the past?

G.E.:  The amount of waste has been decreased considerably compared to the past and I believe this is partly due to the people who work on ships. Most of them are informed and have become ecologically conscious. Nevertheless, we encounter a lot of pollution in the areas where commercial ships pass or in places where we don’t fish often.

 R: What kind of waste you’ve collected has made the biggest impression on you?

GE: Migrant boats and electrical appliances.

iSea’s «Fishing For Litter» program is implemented for 6 years in a row, in lots of different areas in Greece, in collaboration with the A C Laskaridis Charitable Foundation. The ambassadors of this program, the professional fishermen who actively support the effort of collecting and recording aquatic litter from the sea all over the country, talk about the nature of their profession and share their experience and thoughts about the program.

We would like to thank all the fishermen who cooperated with us, for a more effective implementation of the “Fishing For Litter” program and give a personal touch to this effort.