I had just come back home from school and having no homework to do when I went for fishing at a pond about half a kilometer away that evening.
There was nothing unusual about it as all the village children, but girls used to do something away from homes after school hours. Girls would be helping their moms with house keeping, and hardly had time for play.
So boys would play a roundish item made from dry bark taken from banana stem they preferred to call a ‘foot-ball’. They could also make a ball from latex collected from local tree species if the number of players swells enough to call for a stronger ball. But if they were just a few, then a lemon could serve the purpose.
While some boys would go for bird hunting using catapults, bows and arrows or set traps, others would go for fishing. In fact, the type of activity in which one would engage depended on a distance from home and school.
I collected my line and a container full of earthworms which I used as bait. It was all quiet at the pond, but intermittent sounds of fish bobbing out of the murky water to either take gulps of air or catch insects for food.
But I soon realized it was not all fish that came to surface. There were other beings. But under the water were both the living and the non-living who were equally aggressive.
I felt a big tug on the line and pulled. I couldn’t believe what I saw hanging from the hook; a bunch of rotten bamboo leaves. There were bamboos all around the pond and the plants shed their leaves into it. But how the hell could the leaves catch my hook? I wondered.
I removed the leaves and to my surprise the bait was not there. Had the leaves “eaten” the worm? Another puzzle. A plausible explanation would be that a fish had pulled the line under a pile of the rotten leaves, took the bait but got smart enough to run away before I pulled the line.
I fitted another piece of bait onto the hook and threw the line farther into the pond. When I felt a weak tug I remained patient, but I pulled the line quickly as I felt a stronger one. I caught something.
This time it was neither a fish nor a bunch of rotten bamboo leaves, but a strange type of toad with all its four limbs stretched out, hanging motionless at the end of the line.
I was terrified, scared and confused over how I could remove it from the hook, especially on recalling stories about some toads and frogs being poisonous. This was probably the one, I wondered.
I was in a dilemma as I could not go home without the line to face my dad who would be too mad to believe the reality. But I mustered a little courage to get the creature out of the hook.
It was the end evening fishing episode.However, if I went back for fishing at the same pond today, I would neither catch strange toads nor rotten bamboo leaves any more, but plastic bags and plastic sandals.
Plastic debris is threatening the fishing industry in both marine and freshwater resources although the problem is more conspicuous in the former.
The debris is released deliberately or accidentally in seas, oceans, lakes, rivers and waterways. With increasing use of plastic among human beings, most debris comprises plastic material which does not biodegrade. Waterborne plastic items pose serious threat to fish, seabirds, reptiles and marine animals.
A study carried out in 2014 estimates that 8.8 million tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the world’s oceans each year. “Plastic pollution harms an estimated 100,000 sea turtles as well as 1 million other sea creatures every year,” reveals the study.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) says that the scale of contamination of the marine environment by plastic debris is vast. “It is found floating in all the world’s oceans,” the UN agency says.
According to The National Geographic, ocean trash comprises 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic. “There are 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic debris in the ocean. Of that mass, 269,000 tonnes float on the surface while some four billion plastic microfibers per square kilometer litter the deep sea.”
There are a number of measures that have been taken to protect oceans from marine debris. They range from local initiatives to international conventions.
On the local scene, the world’s first plastic fishing company has been established in Amsterdam in the Netherlands, with the aim of getting rid of plastic pollution in the oceans.
The company, Plastic Whale, fishes out plastic bottles and other debris from the city’s numerous canals. When enough bottles are collected, the plastic is transformed into material to make a boat. The new boat is used to fish for more plastic bottles, to make more boats.
Plastic Whale captures debris and plastic waste from Amsterdam’s many canals. Thousands of discarded plastic bottles are repurposed into building materials for the company’s boats and even bottle caps are used to create a colorful mosaic for the boat’s floor. The company then uses the boats to fish out more trash to make more boats.
“We want to see a world of plastic-free waters but also a world where people understand that everyday trash, such as plastic bottles, can be transformed into “a valuable raw material,” Marius Smit, Captain and Founder of Plastic Whale told Eco Watch this week.
Since its 2010 launch, the company has fished more than 50,000 plastic bottles and more than 10,000 kilogrammes of various waste from the canals of Amsterdam.
Today, the company offers businesses and individuals plastic fishing tours on its total fleet of seven boats, all made from plastic bottles. One of its newest boatsis made from more than 7,000 plastic bottles.
“The root of the problem, as we see it, is that people regard plastic as a disposable. We try to change people’s perceptions,” says Smit, adding that the company’s ultimate goal is to make the world’s waters plastic-free.
“We won’t claim that we will just achieve that by ourselves, because the problem is simply too huge and complex. But we do want to make a positive contribution towards the solution,” he told Eco Watch.
On the international scene, there is the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from ships (MARPOL) introduced in 1988, banning the dumping of most garbage and all plastic materials from ships at sea. A total of 122 countries have ratified the treaty.
“There is evidence that the implementation of MARPOL has reduced the marine debris problem although some people say that it has not brought any impact,” says UNEP.
The problem is compounded by the fact an estimated 80 per cent of marine debris originates from sources on land. “Even with total global compliance with MARPOL these sources would remain,” insists The UN agency.
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