Fishermen voluntarily collect plastic waste

Cleaning up marine environment with pleasure

Fisherman Nguyen Ngoc Binh living in Van Phuoc Street, Xuan Thanh ward, Song Cau town (Phu Yen province) has got accustomed to cleaning up marine environment for more than a month as he and his crew membersp have collected plastic waste after their fishing trips. Plastic waste collected from the ocean would be dragged to Dan Phuoc fishing port in Xuan Thanh ward to be treated.

Binh said his fishing vessel has collected dozens of kilograms of wastes including plastic pipes, plastic bags, ropes and broken floats after three offshore fishing trips. "We understand that it is so hard for plastic waste to decompose . Therefore it will become a threat to marine life and push fishermen's livehoods in jeopardy.  So I voluntarily take part in Xuan Thanh shock fishing team to both catch fish and clean up plastic waste from the ocean," Binh said.

The shock fishing team is a voluntary organization which is founded as part of the pilot project "Promoting the collection of plastic wastes with the voluntary participation of marine fishing communities" approved by the Directorate of Fisheries

Accordingly the shock fishing team collects, classifies and treats waste collected from the ocean after their fishing trips. These activities are under the direction of the People's Committee of Xuan Thanh ward, the Project Management Board and Dan Phuoc fishing port.

Nguyen Cong To who is in charge of Dan Phuoc fishing port and Head of the Coordinating Board of the shock fishing team said although the project was implemented in March 2021 it was not until the end of September the shock fishing team was established with 30 members who were owners or captains of the local fishing vessels. Many of these vessels have recently started to collect plastic waste.  The activitywill be further promoted in the nearest future. 

Don't dump old or broken fishing gear into the sea

According to the World Wild Fund (WWF) nearly 90% of the world's marine fish stocks are now fully exploited while over 3 billion people rely on the oceans as their primary source of protein. As the world's population is expanding rapidly global demand for fish is expected to increase leading to the increase in fishing gear use. Trawls, cages and traps  along with other fishing equipment have worsened the ocean plastic pollution problem.

So-called ghost gear, fishing equipment which is lost in the sea can continue killing marine life for decades or even centuries after it first enters the ocean resulting in increased risk of extinction for many rare marine animals such as sea birds, turtles and marine mammals. Therefore ghost gear is considered the most deadly form of marine plastic debris an a threat to  the health of the ocean and livelihoods of marine fishing communities.

According to Ha Vien, Director of the Management Board of Phu Yen fishing port, Dan Phuoc port has recently organized propaganda in encouraging local fishing vessels to collect wastes and clean up the ocean, a move to protect marine life and livelihoods. Wastes collected from the ocean are sorted into the recyclables and the non- recyclables. The recyclables are then processed for market while the non-recyclables are buried.