The access to waste reception facilities at port and the costs associated with the delivery of waste have been highlighted by fishermen, the administration and researchers alike as crucial factors in preventing plastic litter from the fishing industry.
The international standard ISO 5020:2022 was completed during the autumn of 2022 and compiles “best practices” for the management of waste in connection with day-to-day activities, as well as unforeseen events on board fishing vessels. The standard will help reduce the amount of waste and pollution originating from the fishing fleet. The fishing industry has taken the initiative to develop a national standard based on the international standard and this work is under way. The standard will be aimed at fishermen, fishing vessel owners, fisheries suppliers, fishing gear designers, voluntary organisations, authorities and the waste reception system on land.
A lack of reception infrastructure, knowledge of circular value chains and varying practices at waste management companies and ports mean that fishermen’s ability to bring waste to port currently varies from place to place. The Norwegian fishing fleet also varies in size, from trawlers to large coastal vessels, but consists primarily of relatively small coastal vessels. Of a total of 5,593 vessels in 2021, 90% of the vessels were smaller than 15 metres.
The possibilities for reuse, recycling and recovery of end-of-life fishing gear are high but require well-functioning schemes to receive waste at fishing ports. As long as the facilities are not in place, the potential for circular value chains within fishing gear design will remain untapped. Among other things, there is a need for documentation of the amounts of fishing gear in circulation and how much end-of-life fishing gear is collected (Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries, p. 43). Procedures for the sorting of waste at source and waste management methods could lead to more efficient and systematic waste sorting and result in much more waste being reused or recycled.
In recent years, the Fishing for Litter scheme has involved hundreds of fishing vessels in the collection of marine litter at sea in Norway and registered vessels can deliver the waste they have collected free of charge at 11 receiving ports. Key objectives include the monitoring of regional trends in marine litter and examination of the recovery potential for resources retrieved from the ocean, as well as the removal of marine litter from the ocean and raised awareness on the part of fishermen with regard to their contribution of litter in the environment.
The largest proportion of vessels participating in the scheme so far consisted of seagoing trawlers ranging between 40 and 75 metres (56%). Only 9% of the participating vessels were below 15 metres. A lack of space for the storage of marine litter on board smaller vessels has been noted by fishermen as one of several explanations why a larger proportion of the fleet below 15 metres does not participate in the scheme. The fact that the scheme is only available at a small number of fishing ports along the coast, with a potentially a long walk to deliver the waste that has been collected, also affects the possibilities for the smallest fleet group to participate.
The revision of the Norwegian Pollution Regulations to harmonise the Norwegian regulations with the revised EU Port Reception Facilities Directive is under way. This will lead to changes to how waste is managed on board Norwegian fishing vessels, as well as port reception facilities, as there will be more and clearer requirements for the fleet and reception facilities alike. The aim is to ensure more equal terms, increased reuse and material recovery of waste and reduced marine litter.
