Regional Government promotes campaign to raise awareness of seafarers to bring waste produced on board to land
The Regional Secretary for the Sea, Science and Technology urged seafarers "to bring the waste produced on board professional fishing or recreational fishing vessels to land."
Gui Menezes spoke on Faial Island during an action organised under the "Zero Waste in the Azores Sea" campaign. According to him, this project "aims to draw the attention of seafarers that marine litter is a very serious and a major challenge that lies ahead."
This awareness-raising campaign started today at Horta Fishing Port and will be extended to the remaining islands of the archipelago. It is promoted by the Regional Directorates for Fisheries and Sea Affairs in partnership with the Azores Fisheries Federation, the Azores Sea Observatory and the Azores Recreational Fishing Association.
In the context of this action, a pamphlet was distributed to fishers indicating the places where the waste brought ashore should be deposited in each port throughout the archipelago. Moreover, it also contains information on the types of waste produced on board as well as on the collection, selection and storage.
Gui Menezes noted that this campaign "also raises the awareness of fishers to bring the waste found at sea to land." According to him, "fishers spend a considerable amount of time at sea every day and they often bring a lot of the waste they find at sea to land."
The Regional Secretary stated that the “waste found at sea is not just produced by the fishing sector," pointing out that "about 80% of the waste ending up in the oceans is produced on land."
"This campaign aims to alert all those on land to dispose their waste properly," taking into consideration that "the waste produced on land reaches the sea."
"It is estimated that about 13 million tonnes of plastics end up in the sea every year and this is a problem that we have to reverse and fight back," said the Regional Secretary. As he emphasised, "waste will degrade and turn into microplastic over time, becoming a serious problem as it is invisible to the naked eye," in addition to affecting the marine fauna.
The "Zero Waste in the Azores Sea" project is included in the Action Plan for the Azores Marine Waste.