During the summer 2014, Italian DeFishGear partner (ISPRA) was working hard on a “Fishing-for-Litter pilot action”, one of the initiatives which lies at the heart of the DeFishGear project, and includes removal, identification and classification of marine litter together with fishermen while performing their daily fishing activities.
In this case, this particular initiative will involve up to 7 fishing boats of the Chioggia harbor, on a voluntary base. The action will provide a “cost – free” disposal solution for marine litter collected by fishermen and derelict fishing gear from the fishing activity.
The pilot action period (from 6 to a maximum of 12 months), which will start in October 2014, will provide the first quantitative marine litter and derelict fishing gear data collected by fishermen for this part of the Adriatic region. Furthermore, ISPRA with the aforesaid data in the hand aims to pave the path towards the Chioggia Municipality and stimulate it in creating the adequate disposal point. The idea is to create the disposal point near the wholesale fish market in order to involve all the Chioggia’s fishing fleet in the “Fishing-for-Litter” activity.
For these purposes, ISPRA organized the chain of meetings with the fishermen in order to work with them hand-in-hand aiming to find the realistic solution to their difficulties for the marine litter disposal by stressing out the importance of their role in the entire process. Fishermen fleet which will be involved in the “Fishing for Litter” activity will be provided with promotional items (a flag to place on board, fishing boots, polo and raincoat), which will anchor the DeFishGear identity and trigger the attention of the stakeholders involved.
