– They are simply death machines. Animals die steadily in them. Ove Cornelius Olsen of the company Green-Bay refers to the tins that are never retrieved from the seabed. He is on his way on board a boat and is going out to clear the coast outside Stavanger of old fishing equipment. On the quay, tiles are already stacked on tiles that have been picked up. – In some places on the bottom of the sea there are layers of tines and nets. At the start, they catch an incredible amount of crab and lobster. They smell dead before they grow on the bottom. There is a lot of misery. Ove Cornelius Olsen in Green-Bay says it’s a good feeling when they pick up tins of fish and shellfish that are still alive and can be released. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news Every single day of the year, fish and other animals fall victim to ghost fishing. This means that the fishing gear that never comes to the surface again continues to fish along the seabed. The Institute of Marine Research and Green-Bay have researched and cleaned up lost fishing gear in the south and east, and are now expanding to the west. – It’s a great job, it’s useful and a good feeling when you catch fish with live fish and shellfish and can release them, says Olsen. Picked up 419 tines The ghost fishing project started in 2019 and is financed by Handelens Miljøfond. Now they get NOK 37.5 million to continue with the clean-up and research. And the money comes from the plastic bags we buy in the shops. – It’s absolutely superb, it’s super funding for the project, says Olsen. Norwegians’ consumption of plastic bags in September shows that we buy around 85 bags each year, according to Handelens Miljøfond. They have supported 736 projects with the income they receive from the purchase of plastic bags. The environmental fund’s goal is to reduce the purchase and sale of plastic bags. Olsen says that they have picked up 419 teenagers in Stavanger in a week and a half. – It’s about the same everywhere, whether it’s in the Oslofjord or the southern coast. There are teenagers everywhere. He calls the problem an eternal round dance. – It will take place for an infinite number of decades before the tines break and rot. In the course of a week and a half, 419 tines have been picked up from the coast in Rogaland. Photo: Øystein Otterdal / news Not enough money to clean up southern Norway Susanna Huneide Thorbjørnsen agrees with Olsen that it is a vicious circle. She is a researcher at the Institute of Marine Research. – It is much more expensive to clear the seabed than to prevent the tools from ending up there at all. Preventive work and reducing lost equipment is very important so that this does not continue into eternity. Susanna Huneide Thorbjørnsen from the Institute of Marine Research says that clearing the seabed is both good for the climate and reduces mortality in the populations along the coast. Photo: Espen Bierud / news She is very happy that they have now received NOK 37.5 million to continue the clean-up work. – There is money to clean up a lot of roads, but there is not enough effort to clean everything in southern Norway. The project started in Raet National Park in the municipalities of Arendal, Tvedestrand and Grimstad in Agder county. There they have calculated that there are 10,000 lost tools in 200 square kilometers. – We see that there are many people who do not use good enough blowers which are the floating object that should lie on the surface. Here, we recommend massive brightly colored blowers, and not jugs of washing-up liquid, for example. – Environmental disaster General manager Cecilie Lind of Handelens Miljøfond believes it is important that solutions are worked out that lead to less money being spent on cleaning roads. – We also have to develop fishing rods and people’s fishing habits so that we don’t lose so many rods in the future. That is why we also support projects that develop traceable fishing gear and fishing gear that contain less plastic and that will not ghost fish in the future, she says. Cecilie Lind in Handelens Miljøfond. Photo: Ksenia Novikova / news She believes there is an environmental disaster in the areas where there are a lot of teenagers. – If no one takes them away, unfortunately they will be lying around and ghost fishing for years. In addition, it is a littering problem that so much plastic is left on the seabed.
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The purchase of plastic bags pays for the Institute of Marine Research and Green Bay to clear debris along the coast – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
