Marking 20 years of KIMO seas clean-up campaign
Lerwick Port Authority has joined (Friday 3 October 2025) with representatives of the Shetland fishing industry and sector stakeholders to mark the 20th anniversary of the launch of the Fishing for Litter campaign to help clean the seas.
The Fishing for Litter Scotland project was established in Shetland in 2005, since when local boats have landed around 75 tonnes of litter at Lerwick Harbour.
The campaign is coordinated by KIMO, founded in Denmark in partnership with Grampian and Shetland Islands Councils. The Scottish campaign, now led by KIMO UK’s Fishing for Litter team, now has 38 member ports and around 480 vessels, with approximately 2,650 tonnes of litter removed from the ocean over two decades.
At the gathering at the Shetland Fishermen’s Association, KIMO representative on behalf of Fishing for Litter, Rick Nickerson, presented an award to Lerwick Port Authority/Shetland Fishermen’s Association for both organisations’ participation and support for the scheme.
Commemorative gifts were distributed to all 22 boats in the local whitefish and pelagic fleetsto recognise their involvement in clean-up efforts.
Lerwick Port Authority’s involvement includes offering cost-free landing facilities and safe disposal routes for marine litter. Large bags are provided by the scheme for free to registered vessels to collect the plastics, ghost gear and other debris that gather in their nets during normal fishing activities. On return to port, they can unload the bags of litter into a dedicated skip which are later collected for recycling or disposal.
Captain Calum Grains Lerwick Port Authority Chief Executive“We’re proud of our long association with KIMO and congratulate the local fleet on their contribution. Recovering litter has never been more important to protect our seas and coastline and we are pleased to support KIMO and the crews in their future activity.”
Julia CantFishing for Litter Project Coordinator“We can sit here all day, putting skips in place and sending out bags, but it is really down to the fishermen bringing the stuff in and the harbours facilitating it,” she explained. “We are thrilled to be celebrating our 20-year anniversary, and our hope is for further expansion to realise our ambition of having every harbour providing Fishing for Litter facilities to collect passively fished marine litter.”
KIMO UK currently counts eight members, and works together to exchange information, lead by example, lobby national government, make joint representations and undertake local environmental projects. Shetland Islands Council is a member of KIMO UK.
The anniversary was also marked on Friday at Peterhead and Fraserburgh harbours, also original participants in 2005. KIMO members operate in UK, Netherlands and Faroe and the successful initiative has since been replicated in other regions.