Mr. Kyriakos Gkavougiorgos, a member of the fishing community an important part of the “Fishing For Litter” project, talks about his professional story and his participation in the project. He sails in the Thracian Sea.

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

KG: I was born in Samothrace, a place with plenty of fishermen and I decided to work as a fisherman when I was 10 years old. In 1980 I bought my own boat and as years passed by I made some inshore fishing vessels. Until 2007 I was working on inshore fishing. In 2007 I bought my fishing trawler, while in the summers I kept working on inshore fishing.

R: Describe us a day at the sea. 

KG: Our day starts at 03:00-03:30 am. We leave the port and check the weather, then we decide where we are about to head(as we say). Then we haul the nets, if the catch is okay we return to the port to send the fish to the fishmarket of Kavala. If the catch is not enough and the weather is okay, we keep on fishing during the night and return to the port in the afternoon. 

R: What differences do you notice in the amount of marine litter compared to the past?

KG: I think that litter has increased compared to the past. It should be noted that there are so many pots for octopuses and that’s because most fishermen leave them at the sea during the forbidden season. Moreover, we observe a great amount of litter from Turkish purse seines.

R: What is the strangest type of litter you have removed from the sea?

KG: Once we caught a cow. 

R: What does the sea mean to you and what does its protection?

KG: The sea is my life. Everyday she keeps “pulling” me close to her. As long as we protect her, the sea will keep on offering us her goods.

R: What is the message you would like to pass along the world?

KG: Love the sea and keep it clean.