SLCG COLLECTS APROX 550,000 PLASTIC BOTTLES FROM MULTIDAY FISHING VESSELS AS A CSR PROJECT IN 2O2O

Sri Lanka Coast Guard fishing monitoring units established at 24 major fishery harbours, collected approx. 550,000 plastic water bottles from multiday fishing vessels during 2020 preventing plastic bottles thrown out to sea as marine litter.

Sri Lanka is placed as the 5th largest plastic polluter in the world among countries such as China, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam. The plastic bottles thrown out to sea take more than 450 years to decompose and cause grave damages to marine lives, such as marine mammals, sea turtles and fish species. Also, plastics pose serious threat to marine birds due entangling and ingestion.

In order to prevent marine pollution, SLCG fishing monitoring points prohibit multiday fishing vessels taking less than 5 liters bottles out to sea during departure formalities at fishery harbours. In addition, SLCG personnel at fishing monitoring points inspect the number of plastic bottles carrying by each multiday fishing vessel during their departure and collect same during arrival. The collected plastic bottles are sent to upcycling/ recycling.