Fishing for Litter

There’s an increasing awareness of and concern about the volume of fishing-related litter in our seas.

At Ullapool Harbour we’ve actively supported KIMO’s Fishing For Litter initiative in Scotland since it began in 2005 – both practically and financially. Participating vessels are given hardwearing bags to collect marine litter that is caught in their nets during normal fishing activities. Filled bags are deposited on the quayside along with larger items such as nets, creels and wires. These are then moved to the harbour- sponsored skip for disposal. The project itself provides the bags and covers all disposal costs. In the first six months of 2017, two lorry loads (approximately 30 tonnes) of collected nets have been shipped to Denmark for recycling.

In 2017, Fishing For Litter organised for plastic recycling company Terracycle to send UHT special pallet boxes to collect broken plastic fish boxes for recycling and in June, the first consignment of over 600 boxes was taken away for recycling into shampoo bottles.

Ullapool Harbour Trust believes that this is a most worthwhile scheme with clear benefits for all. The harbour doesn’t levy costs on our fishermen for any marine waste, spent engine oil or filters and endeavours to make marine rubbish disposal as easy as possible for vessels when they come alongside.

For further information about the Fishing For Litter scheme please visit https://fishingforlitter.org/ or if you use Ullapool Harbour and would like to enquire about how you might participate, please contact Harbourmaster Kevin Peach at kevin@ullapool-harbour.co.uk