To contribute to the cleaner sea and collect marine litter (ML) fishermen regularly find in the fishing nets, sets of reusable garbage bags and scales for measuring the amount of waste will be given to the local fishermen.In 2 fishing harbors at the City of Mali Lošinj, waste containers will be installed and collected ML will be properly disposed.Additionally, through series of workshops we plan to educate the local population about ML problem and promote the activities of fishermen involved.

Mali Lošinj, Primorsko-goranska County, Croatia

Cres-Lošinj archipelago is part of the EU Natura 2000 Ecological Network and an important habitat for marine endangered species (bottlenose dolphins, loggerhead sea turtles, Posidonia meadows…) and our aim is to protect species and habitats of conservation concern. One of the biggest challenges that we are facing nowadays is the growing presence of litter in the sea. Fishermen are almost every day out on the sea and during the hauls they collect a large amount of marine litter and they are lacking capacities for its proper disposal. Having local FLAG and the City of Mali Lošinj as partners we will focus on cooperation between fishermen and local authorities in ML management, strengthening municipal capacity to develop community-municipal understanding and thus exercise good-governance.

Key target groups will be local fishermen. However, the focus is also on the municipality and local community of City of Mali Lošinj and surrounding towns and villages, but also schools, local NGO's, local policy makers. Although municipal services are there for its citizens, there is considerable lack of understanding and spirit of cooperation between them. Our project considers fishermen as first step towards raising awareness among citizens and municipality about the growing amount of marine litter and the damages it poses to sea, beaches, marine flora, and fauna. Additionally, a fishermen´s willingness to participate in the project and to tackle the marine litter gives more credibility to our initiative.

1. Defining the group of fishermen interested in joining the project activities with the help of local FLAG as project partner
2. Conduct training of the fishermen on the collection of ML and data of the types and amounts and proper disposal
3. Defining of suitable locations to place the container and emptying schedule
4. Purchase and distribution of reusable bags, scales, working clothes and containers in collaboration with project partners
5. During each fishing session, collect the marine litter into the reusable bags, measure it and dispose it in a container
6. Once a month, organize the submission of reports on collected waste which can also revise the container emptying schedule
7. Use the data collected on the type and amount of waste to educate the local community about the importance of the marine ecosystem and marine litter (live at the workshops and public events and through media and social networks
8. Contact interested groups in local community to provide them with marine litter education
9. The local community where the education will take place includes local authorities, schools, kindergartens, tourism workers, local NGO’s and other
10. Organize marine litter clean up with fishermen and local community members as public event.
11. Promotion of the project activities in media (local and regional newspaper, web platforms, radio etc.) and social networks

By collecting ML found in fishing nets, we want to reduce the amount of ML on the sea-bed and thus protect and preserve the biodiversity of the Adriatic Sea. Also, by presenting the results of the project to the local community and fishermen, we want to extend the idea of the project to other fishing ports on the Adriatic Sea - or fishermen of other Adriatic islands. Also, the information of ML data collected will serve as guidelines for further research, informing policy makers and educating the general public.

To motivate fishermen to engage in social and ecological policy, they must have a sense of having an impact and allow themselves to speak freely about issues affecting Adriatic Sea and their economic sector as well. It is important to note that the initiative for this project came ‘bottom-up’ directly from local fishermen. Also, as fishermen are constantly negotiating their status in society and the local economy, joint participation in the fishermen's project and the City of Mali Lošinj can be the basis for better communication and cooperation in the future and may result local policy making. Also, joint meetings of local authorities, NGOs and fishermen encourage real participation in direct clean up actions, more successful project implementation and community awareness of the project.

Jelena Basta - President of the BWI. Croatian ambassador of the European Atlas of the Seas. Has experience working with the local community, fishermen, divers and experience in implementing international and local projects and is very involved in solving problem of marine litter. She has extensive experience in conducting educational programs.

Martina Antoninić - Experience in implementing educational programs on the topic of marine and environmental protection, implementation and writing projects. Has experience in organizing, mediating, and conducting meetings with various social actors working together to protect the marine environment.

Ivana Šeparović - Has experience in working with the local community, local NGOs and conducting educational programs on environmental protection.

Robust reusable bags 2.500 EUR
Digital weight scales with hooks 2.000 EUR
Working clothes 3.000 EUR
Garbage containers 1.800 EUR
Workshop costs 3.200 EUR
Personnel costs 8.000 EUR
Communication and dissemination 11.000 EUR
Travel expenses 1.000 EUR

We would like to hear other stories of similar projects in other communities and how did the cooperation between fishermen and local stakeholders developed? Were fishermen cooperative? Would you implement this type of project in your area?