Fisherman to take ashore the garbage caught while fishing

THE HAGUE – A plan originally launched in Scotland is increasingly drawing support in the Netherlands. Scheveningen fishermen are joining those of Delfzijl and IJmuiden in their efforts to clear the sea of garbage. Previously, garbage caught in the nets was dumped overboard again but now it is being brought back to land for disposal. The campaign to clear the North Sea, the Atlantic and the Arctic Sea has been widening with more countries and municipalities with trawlers joining in, realizing that keeping the environment clean is a worthy goal and makes a lot of sense over the long haul. Earlier this month, the first Scheveningen trawler, supported by the municipality of The Hague, brought such refuse back to land. Instead of charging the fisherman for bringing in garbage from the sea, the municipality will pay for disposal and the garbage bags. Officials from the umbrella group report that the sea has given up junk of every kind, including plastic material, batteries, a washing machine and parts of airplanes. The garbage ends up in the nets when fishing for flatfish species. To catch then it is necessary for the nets to scrape the bottom of the sea.