Mr Gilikos Stavros is a member of the “Fishing for Litter” project and takes action near to Lesvos. He is 36 years old and belongs to the third generation of his family that continues professionally fishing with a trawler, just like his father and grand farther.

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

GS I have been a fisher since 2009. I was lucky enough to grow up in a fishing family. Both my grandfathers and my father were fishers, so I took over the business.

 R: Could you describe a day in the sea?

GS: Usually our work starts at dawn, and depending on the season and weather, we start fishing, after choosing the fishing spot. When the weather conditions are bad, you have to be alert and the job is harder. 

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

GS:  I have been at sea for a long time, and I think it’s safe to say that I see a stability in the recent years regarding the amount and type of litter. We’re all aware that if sail west, we’ll find tins, paint cans, plastic bottles and fishing nets. We found lots of litter during the immigrant influx, such as their personal belongings and parts of boats. 

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

GS: I’ve always noticed that after the end of summer, we collected clothes from tourists, that always made a big impression on me. The strangest piece of litter we’ve found, however, was a F16 that crashed and sunk in our area in 1996.

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

GS: The sea means everything to me. The sea and my boat are my whole life, the things that make me feel proud. The protection of the sea is my primary goal and that’s the reason I  wanted to participate in the ‘’Fishing for litter” project. We all must help, since fishing boats are not enough.

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

GS: The sea is for everyone! Everyone should enjoy it but also protect it. As a fisher, it’s not only my workplace, but it is also home. The environment we live for an entire day or even more. We want a clean sea and a stable industry.

iSea’s «Fishing For Litter» project 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 project, the professional fishers who actively support the effort of collecting and recording marine litter from the sea all over the country, talk about the nature of their job and share their experience and thoughts about the project.

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