Fishing for Plastic
The state fisheries department’s ‘clean ocean’ initiative has retrieved some 250 tonnes of it
In a unique new initiative to reclaim the sea, Kerala’s fishermen have taken to ‘fishing’ for plastic waste littering the seas. Suchitva Sagaram (clean ocean), a project launched by the state fisheries department on August 5 in Shakthikulangara and Neendakara—the twin fishing harbours off the Kollam coast in the south—has already retrieved some 250 tonnes of plastic waste that was threatening the marine ecology.
The initiative to clean up the seas, says fisheries minister J. Mercykutty Amma, was mooted by the Boat Owners’ Association and local fishermen as it was, after all, directly linked to their livelihoods. Some 800 fishing vessels head out from Neendakara and Shakthikulangara every day. As part of the sea clean-up project, 40 boats head back on a daily basis carrying whatever waste plastic they net alongside the fish. The fisheries department has set up waste collection centres close to the fish landing points in Neendakara.
P. Geethakumari, nodal officer for the sea waste management project, says 30 women sort and dry the retrieved plastic, which is then processed and converted to usable products at a plant set up by the harbour engineering wing. According to her, the fishermen have also pledged not to carry any plastic material out to sea.
In the first 70 days, fishermen have retrieved an unbelievable array of bottles, polythene bags, ropes, buckets and discarded fishing nets from the sea. “We were less sensitive about sea pollution in the past. But the dwindling catch has come as a warning. The marine habitat was being destroyed, so we collectively decided to try and save the situation,” says Peter Mathias, general secretary of the Kollam district boat owners’ association. According to him, the declining catch, while pushing up prices for consumers, has also meant shrinking incomes for the fishermen.
The success has prompted moves to extend the project to other harbours along Kerala’s 580 km coastline. “The response to the clean sea mission has been excellent. The local community and other stakeholders have been very keen,” says Mercykutty Amma, whose department is organising meetings in coastal villages to sensitise people to the perils of plastic. Schoolchildren and religious leaders are also being roped in for what the fisheries minister hopes will result in “a plastic-free coast”.