14-Nov-2023

Waste disposal is the shared responsibility of the industry

Several crab pots from Russian and Norwegian vessels got stuck in the trawl of the Lodairo when it was trawling in the Barents Sea at the end of October. The freezer trawler brought the pots to land in Cuxhaven, where our subsidiary Deutsche Fischfang-Union (DFFU) sent them to recycling facilities and paid the disposal fee. This is not the first time our vessels have picked up large waste items at sea this year.

Several of our vessels have received snow crab pots on their trawls during fishing trips in the Barents Sea. This is not a new challenge for vessels fishing in these areas. Significant amounts of snow crab pots have been abandoned in the Barents Sea for the past few years. The Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries carries out an annual gear retrieval program, and about 1200 and 2400 abandoned snow crab pots were retrieved in the Barents Sea in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

It is not only crab pots that are picked up by our trawlers. Late in May this year, the freezer trawler Emeraude, operated by our subsidiary Compagnie des Pêches Saint-Malo, received an old rusty car by the Russian brand Lada in its trawl in the Norwegian EEZ. The car's origin and how it ended up at the bottom of the sea is unknown. DFFU, which services the Emeraude vessel, paid for the disposal of the car as waste.

The accumulated costs of recycling these waste items can build up and become significant over time. The fishing companies that receive these unwanted items in their nets are, in effect, recycling and paying for other people's waste.

An opportunity, not a burden

Vilhelm Thór Hardarson, fleet manager at DFFU, says bringing large waste items to shore and their safe disposal is an inevitable byproduct of fisheries, and the responsible disposal of waste from the sea is the shared responsibility of all companies in the industry.

"Our vessels regularly pick up waste from the sea during fishing trips. We don't see it as a burden but an opportunity to make the sea and its environment cleaner by returning the waste to land and paying for its disposal. We are aware of our responsibility as a company, and it is not only about bringing the waste to shore but also about reducing the consumption and production of waste materials. We are convinced that it is in our best interests to keep the ocean clean and contribute to the continued utilisation of its resources for current and future generations. We want to be part of the solution, not the problem," says Hardarson.

Vilhelm Thór Hardarson, fleet manager at DFFU.