– All records are, in a sense, a measure of correct and good effort, but such records as this still give somewhat mixed feelings, says tour leader Gjermund Langedal in the Norwegian Fisheries Directorate’s Environment Section. The Directorate of Fisheries reports that in 2023 1,339 nets were taken up. A 20-year-old record was then broken. – It is positive that we are actually able to remove much of what is left on the bottom, but at the same time disturbing that this record is primarily set with 20 percent less cleaning effort than in 2023, and that there has never before been so much lost fishing gear left in the sea, when the voyage ends, says Langedal. Removing lost and abandoned gear is a very important contribution to reducing marine litter and ghost fishing. The voyage took place in the period 7 August to 11 September and covered the coast and the edge of the egg from Ålesund to Honningsvåg. The voyage has been ongoing around the clock with the chartered vessel M/S “Vikingbank”. Photo: Directorate of Fisheries Telephone, lighting fixture, cable and pipes The work has covered the coast and sea areas at depths between 50 and 1400 metres. – In total, 1,637 nets of various types, 25,250 meters of line, various cheat lines, 16,500 meters of ropes, 78 ropes as well as quantities of wakes and anchors as well as 8,400 meters of abandoned or dumped spinning wad rope have been taken up and removed, writes the Directorate of Fisheries. In addition, various components from trawling such as 5,250 cables, 2 bobbins and approx. 300 square meters with notlin. As well as a telephone, lighting fixture, cable, pipe, hose, plastic sheet, gloves and oily clothes have ended up on deck during the clean-up. Various components from trawl fishing were taken up, such as 5,250 cables. Photo: Directorate of Fisheries – Illegal cleaning expeditions are mainly planned and prioritized on the basis of the fishermen’s loss reports throughout the year. This is an electronic solution and not everyone gets this to work equally well and some do not report losses for other reasons, so that the work list for the voyage is constantly changing during the voyage. – If anyone is in doubt, it is illegal for professional fishermen not to report a loss of gear, but the loss itself can happen even to the best, says Langedal. – The amount of fishing gear that has been reported lost since the last clean-up operation is essentially the same as last year, except in fishing for blue halibut. There are many fish that are caught by ghost nets. Photo: The Directorate of Fisheries New technical solutions The Directorate of Fisheries’ action plan against marine litter has a vision of reducing the clean-up effort, in order to reduce the need. This is to be done, among other things, through the development of technical solutions that better enable the fisherman to find lost gear on his own and increased use of degradable solutions in fishing gear. – However, we see that the results from this work are going slower than we would like. However, we hope that this will be able to come gradually so that the need for cleaning is reduced over time. As it looks now, however, the need appears to be increasing and this is very expensive work, says Langedal. The voyage took place in the period 7 August to 11 September and covered the coast and the edge of the egg from Ålesund to Honningsvåg. Photo: Directorate of Fisheries Published 11.09.2024, at 10.12
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Clean-up expedition with a new record of lost fishing gear – news Troms and Finnmark
