For the 6th consecutive year, fishers are “Fishing for Litter.”

Tuesday 4 February 2025

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With the pilot participation of 8 fishing vessels, an ambitious project was launched in 2018. After 6 years it has grown to include ¼ of the country's fishing trawler fleet, becoming the primary source of valuable data on benthic litter in our country. Moreover, it serves as an ongoing process of informing and engaging fishers in addressing marine litter pollution.

The "Fishing for Litter" project, an initiative of the Athanasios C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, implemented in collaboration with the environmental organisation iSea, has successfully removed 186 tons of benthic litter from our seas over the last 6 years. Notably, 83% of this waste is plastic, with plastic bags, purse seine ropes and plastic bottles being the most abundant. In addition, the fishers participating in the project, acting as Citizen Scientists, recorded more than 311,000 objects, of which 118,469 exclusively belong to Abandoned, Lost and/or Discarded Fishing Gear.

In 2024, 48 fishers from ports across the Aegean Sea once again took the lead in this effort, successfully removing over 60 tons of litter from deep depths. Of this, 81% consisted of plastic items, while 61% of the total waste removed were Single-Use Plastics and more than 23% belonged to Abandoned, Lost and/or Discarded Fishing Gear which was recorded and removed.

The contribution of fishers is now more crucial than ever in monitoring and addressing marine litter pollution, as Greece complies with the European Directive 2019/904 on Single-Use Plastics and plastic fishing gear setting targets and measures to reduce their impact.

We thank all fishers who, by participating in the “Fishing for Litter” project, are leading the way in raising awareness within their industry, reducing marine litter and collecting valuable data on marine litter pollution in our country.

Find more about the results here.