The fishing community in Sardinia has joined forces with scientists from Cagliari University and Fisheries Local Action Groups to remove marine waste from Sardinian waters. Recognising the shared threat to marine life and their livelihoods, fishermen on vessels of all sizes participated, with a common aim of achieving cleaner, healthier seas.
During a seabed survey, scientists from Cagliari University discovered more than they anticipated. Using remotely operated underwater vehicles, they located coral and more alarmingly, they also observed large amounts of marine litter in Sardinian waters.
Recognising the urgent need for a collaborative effort, they approached the fishing community through their Fisheries Local Action Groups to develop a plan was to combine research activities such as monitoring and mapping, with efforts to retrieve marine litter.
The Fisheries Local Action Groups got to work, selecting cooperatives and associations to participate. Financial support of €3000 per participating cooperative or association made the project accessible to everyone, regardless of their size and type of boat. The project also set minimum quotas for the amounts of litter collected: 100kg for larger trawlers, 50kg for smaller trawlers (<12m), and 20kg for smaller boats.
Over six months, and 136 trips, fishermen collected a total of 2400kg of litter from depths of 10 down to 800 metres. This highlighted the scale of the problem and underscored and the fact that the initiative needs to be repeated. The detailed monitoring by participating fishermen also provided scientists with valuable insights into the types of litter found at various depths.
The project succeeded in creating an easily replicable organisational model that can be adapted to different local contexts. It also demonstrated the power of involving and raising awareness in the local fishing community around protection of biodiversity, fish stocks and the sea.
An important group of small-scale fishers now has increased capacity of monitoring and registering marine litter, contributing to community awareness, and helping to mitigate the problem at its source.
‘Thanks to the project the trust between the University department and the individual fishers in the eight communities increased, and we hope this new network of relations can support other cooperation initiatives in the future,’ said Dr Alessandro Cau of the University of Cagliari, commenting that this initiative paves the way for future collaborations between scientists and fishermen.
