This year’s clean-up of Norwegian fishing grounds run by the Directorate of Fisheries has ended with a total of 45 kilometres of nets being retrieved – which sets a new record.
‘All records are, in a sense, a measure of correct and good effort, but such records as this still leaves is with mixed feelings,’ said Gjermund Langedal of the Directorate’s environmental section, who co-ordinates the initiative.
‘It’s 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% less cleaning effort than in 2023, and that there has never before been so much lost fishing gear left in the sea as the clean-up comes to an end.’
The clean-up of lost fishing gear is primarily an environmental initiative to reduce marine littering and which educes the burden on marine resources by reducing ghost fishing.
‘A clean-up operation like this contributes to indirect value creation through reduced ghost fishing of significant quantities of fish and shellfish. In addition, the trip also contributes to an increased circular economy through the re-use of fishing gear that has been retrieved and returned to the owners. This year, gear worth over one million kroner were returned,’ Geirmund Langedal said.
This year’s clean-up took place between 7th August to 11th September, and covered the coastal and shelf areas in depths from 50 to 1440 metres from Ålesund to Honningsvåg, using chartered pelagic vessel Vikingbank.
The final tally for this year’s clean-up comes to 1637 nets of various types, 25,250 metres of line, 16,500 metres of ropes, 78 traps and anchors, and 8400 metres of seine rope. This is in addition to trawl warp, bobbins and netting, plus other junk that includes a telephone light fittings, wires, pipes, hoses, plastic sheet and goves.
The catch in the retrieved nets varies from considerable in deeper areas to little in shallower areas. Greenland halibut is the main species, along with skate, saithe, redfish, cod, catfish and monkfish. A variety of crab species were caught in the retrieved gear, along with a dead porpoise and a dead porbeagle, but no seabirds.
The clean-up operation each year is organised on the basis of fishermen’s reports throughout the year of lost gear.
‘If anyone is in doubt, it is illegal for professional fishermen not to report a loss of gear, and losing gear is something that can happen to even to the best fishermen,’ Geirmund Langedal said.
‘We see that the results from this work is slower than we would like. It seems that there’s an increasing for this is very costly work.’
