– We found the boat on a reef. It was lying with its bow up. It was very heavy and it was difficult to get to, says Høgset. He is the leader of the beach cleaning project In The Same Boat. Last Sunday, they were able to tilt the boat around and tow it ashore. They also started the job of finding out where the boat comes from. – This is a type of boat we don’t see many of in Norway. The hull is of a different type to what we have here, says Høgset. Via Facebook, they found out that the Osprey 210 type boat has served as an auxiliary boat on a fishing boat from Newfoundland in eastern Canada. During a storm at the end of July last year, the boat was lost. Before it ended on a reef in Vega municipality in Nordland. – It has probably gone in a circle in the North Atlantic ocean current. At one point or another, it probably got so far east that it was caught by the Gulf Stream, and finally ended up here, says Høgset, who is surprised that the boat from just that side of the world ended up in northern Norway. ENGAGED: Rolf-Ørjan Høgset picks up rubbish and is project manager for In The Same Boat. Photo: In the same boat A chain of negative consequences – We haven’t found much from that coast before. Most of what we find from abroad is from the British Isles, Iceland or Shetland, says the project manager. He further believes that the boat discovery gives cause for concern for several reasons. – In the first instance, such large objects are a possible danger to ship traffic. When they end up on land, they become a threat to nature and the environment. There will be a kind of chain of negative consequences, says Høgset. – At the same time, this is also an example of how much of what we find along the coast is the result of accidents. Which again says something about the fact that it is difficult to overcome the challenges of plastic and rubbish in the sea. The owner of the boat has not responded to news’s inquiries. 1,200 TONNES OF PLASTICS: In The Same Boat has cleaned 1,200 tons of plastic since it started in 2017. Gema Martinez has worked as a volunteer for In The Same Boat Photo: Rolf-Ørjan Høgset / In the same boat Several thousand kilometers to clean In The Same Boat is underway with a large beach clean-up project under the auspices of Handelens Miljøfond. They will clear 4,800 kilometers of coastline in Nordland. Within a year, they have almost recovered halfway. – 80 per cent of what we find is from fisheries, and you also have quite a few drink bottles from abroad. It doesn’t add up to much in terms of weight, but it is a very high number, says Høgset. – It gives a picture of the situation in the world. This spring it became known that the challenges with plastic and rubbish in the sea are more serious than first thought. In the Same Boat sees that the beaches they clean quickly fill up with rubbish again. And the Supreme Court believes it will be worse. – We have not yet registered anything in particular with rubbish from Asia and the Pacific coast. We know that there is a lot of rubbish floating around in the world’s oceans. The fact that this boat ends up here, one year after it disappeared, gives cause for concern in terms of the rubbish floating around in the world’s oceans that may reach Norway in the coming years. – Do you think we will ever end this? – We see that everyone who gains more knowledge becomes better at taking care of their things and reducing plastic and rubbish going astray. But with so much plastic in use, a certain proportion will end up in nature. The university receives support from WWF. A SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT: Most of the rubbish In The Same Boat finds originates from the fishing industry Photo: Rolf-Ørjan Høgset / In The Same boat Less than 10 per cent is recycled According to recent research, between 19 and 23 million tonnes of plastic end up in the sea every year. – Of all the plastic that is made, less than 10 percent is recycled and used again. The rest becomes rubbish that is released into nature or burned, says Eirik Lindebjerg in WWF. The Gulf Stream gives us the climate we have, but it also means that rubbish from many places in the world will end up with us. Lindebjerg says that it is particularly noticeable the further out on the coast and the further north you go. TRIBUTES THE WASTE PICKERS: Eirik Lindebjerg is head of plastics at WWF. He pays tribute to Høgset and all volunteers who contribute to less plastic along the Norwegian coast. Photo: Eivind Molde / news – How vulnerable is the Norwegian coast to rubbish from other places? – There are marine ecosystems that are more and more under pressure due to climate change and species moving in different areas than they did before. – The plastic poses a really big threat, which comes on top of these threats, especially for seabirds. You see very large concentrations of plastic on bird cliffs and in the stomachs of seabirds. – Will be an impossible task Lindebjerg says that there is an almost endless need for clean-up along the coast. He pays tribute to In The Same Boat and all the volunteers who give their time to this. – So it is incredibly important that we manage to stop the supply of new plastic to nature. After all, it will be a completely impossible and endless task to clean up if we are just going to continue dumping plastic in the sea. – Is it possible to reduce the consumption and emissions of plastic? – It absolutely is. But even though there has been more and more attention to it, we unfortunately see that the plastic manufacturers are planning for a major increase in plastic production in the world. It doesn’t work, then it becomes an impossible task to clean up. Up to 80% of the chemical substances we find in plastic are unknown and unnamed. How do we know they are safe? Lisle Lyngøy will finally be cleared.
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In The Same Boat found a boat on the shore that was lost in Canada 1 year ago when they picked up plastic in the sea – news Nordland
