Council to tackle marine litter around Donegal coastline

 

Donegal County Council has confirmed that a number of initiatives will be undertaken this year in a bid to address the issue of marine litter around the county’s coastline.
It is estimated that 70% of marine litter is on the seabed while 15% is floating in the water and the remainder, found on shores.
A Fishing for Litter initiative which aims to reduce plastic in the ocean will be carried out in 2019 by Donegal County Council in partnership with an Bord Iascaigh Mhara with fishermen encouraged to bring ashore litter found at sea.
The council says fishing boats in Killybegs and Greencastle are already active participants in the project.
While a new initiative hopes to address plastic waste produced in the aquaculture industry with an emphasis on the recycling of oyster bags.
The Council says for 2019, they are particularly interested in promoting the Clean Coasts initiative on Donegal’s islands.
With support from Ancaire, its hoped new groups can be formed to arrange improvements around the county’s islands’ coastlines.
Finally, the Think Before you Flush campaign is continuing into 2019 to raise awareness about the problem sanitary products and other items can cause to the marine environment and wastewater systems.