Were our project objectives met?
            Our initial targets and details on how we performed

Project Aims
There were two main aims to the project. Firstly, the physical removal of marine litter which sinks to the seabed and secondly to raise awareness amongst the fishing industry that it is no longer acceptable to dump marine litter over the side. One effective way to do this was to show fishermen the cost of removing marine litter from their nets. KIMO has calculated this to be approximately £1,300 per tonne in lost time with out considering damage to gear or lost catches. A secondary aim of the project was to monitor the marine litter coming ashore to establish its origin, age and to establish any regional variation or trends. This information has been forwarded to the OSPAR Marine Litter Monitoring Program, as there is currently only limited data on seabed litter. 

Target - The involvement of ten harbours in the initiative
The project surpassed its target for the participation of harbours by operating the scheme in 15 harbours over the period of the project. These were: Shetland (Lerwick, Scalloway and Cullivoe), Peterhead, Fraserburgh, Eyemouth, Stornoway, Tarbert (East and West), Mallaig, Kinlochbervie, Scrabster, Kirkcudbright, Pittenweem, Ullapool and Troon. Aberdeen withdrew from the project in 2007 due to the lack of fishing vessels landing at the market and the change of focus of the port towards the oil industry.

Target - The involvement of 100 boats in the initiative
The project exceeded its target with 111 vessels registering to participate in the scheme. The effort for registering vessels was focussed on activities surrounding the launch of each new harbour as the project developed. It was not possible to monitor the participation rates of each vessel other than to monitor tonnages landed in each harbour. The launch of the SEA Fish Responsible Fishing Scheme was advantageous in attracting new registrations. As the publicity for the project enhanced some individual skippers approached the scheme to participate. The attendance at Fishing 2005, 06, 07 Exhibitions was very effective in maintaining good communications with fishing crews who were already involved in the scheme and provided an opportunity to sign up new boats.

Target - The collection of 500 tonnes of marine litter
The project fell short of it target of 500 tonnes achieving a total of 117 tonnes.  In retrospect the tonnage target set for the project was perhaps optimistic as it was based on previous experience of the Save the North Sea project, which included mostly data from Dutch harbours. 

Dutch fishing methods were significantly different for Scotland being predominately bottom trawlers. Also research data from Save the North Sea project involving monitoring plastic in Fulmars also indicted that generally marine litter levels are greater in the Southern North Sea than where the Scottish fleet traditionally operates.

The level of waste collected varied from harbour to harbour and depended on the level of fishing activity in each fleet and the participation rates. It also highlights the trend as the network expanded and the number of vessels increased, tonnages also increased. The most successful harbours in terms of tonnages were Peterhead and Fraserburgh. This can be explained by those two harbours being the premier landing ports in Scotland.

Conclusions
Over the three year period from 2005 - 2008, the Fishing for Litter project has developed and grown tremendously. After initially operating from a handful of harbours, the project expanded rapidly, achieving representation on the quayside of all of Scotland's Designated Landing Ports (DLPs). As a result of this success, the project has secured funding for the next three years until 2011, with plans to expand into English waters and the Baltic.

Read the Fishing for Litter final report for the 2005 - 2008 period.