Plastic bags and bottles, aquaculture feed bags, nylon netting and ropes don’t sound like the makings of a healthy fishing haul. However, nets replete with these items are a near-daily reality for the majority of fishers interviewed by researchers during a recent study in Vietnam. Plastic waste causes small-scale fishers in Vietnam to lose an average of $3,421 per vessel, per year, in lost fishing time, reduced catch efficiency and damaged gear, the study assessing the economic impacts of plastic debris on fishing livelihoods found. This represents a 10-25% reduction in the annual income of vessel owners. Fishers interviewed for the study reported that they had significantly increased their fishing efforts in recent years in response to the combined pressures of overexploited fish stocks and plastic pollution. “Before, 6-7 hauls were enough [to turn a profit],” one interviewee told the researchers. “Now it takes 20-25 hauls.” The study also highlights how fishers could play a significant role in solutions tackling the plastic pollution crisis, including through “fishing for litter” programs that pay fishers modest financial incentives to bring back plastic bycatch for disposal and processing on land. “When you see firsthand the sheer volume of [plastic waste] in Southeast Asia, and how it directly impacts people’s lives and livelihoods, it crystallizes very clearly why we need to address this,” study co-author Michel Kaiser, a professor of fisheries conservation at Heriot-Watt University in the U.K., told Mongabay in an interview. “Fundamentally, turning off the source of the plastic is key, but…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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