Letter from the Minister!! Fishing Boats Cleaning up the Ocean!

I was very heartened to receive this letter confirming that not only have they started but 100% of Irish trawlers and other fishing vessels will be participating in the ocean clean up by the end of this year!!! 

22 July 2019 

Dear Ms. Micklem

I refer to your recent email to Minister Michael Creed dated 8 July 2019 concerning a solution to plastic pollution.

In January this year, Minister Creed launched the Clean Oceans Initiative to address the serious issue of marine plastic pollution. Irish fishing vessels are towing nets through the waters around our coast on a daily basis and often find debris, including waste plastics, when the nets are hauled. The Minister has set a target for 100% Irish trawlers to participate in this initiative by 31 December 2019 by recovering waste plastics and discarded fishing nets from our marine waters. Bord lascaigh Mhara (BilvI) is leading the initiative. 12 of Ireland's busiest ports are participating and over 81 tonnes of marine litter has been collected over the past 6 months. 9 tonnes of nets have also been collected for recycling by BIM's mobile shredder, the 'Green Machine'. The Minister is keen to see the participation target achieved this year and is confident our fishing industry will rise to the challenge. For more information please

Along with our national measures, a new directive targeting fishing gear containing plastic has been introduced by the EU Commission which aims to reduce the impact of fishing gear containing plastic on the environment and human health; promote the transition to a circular economy; and foster innovative business models, products and materials. The Department of Communications, Climate Action, and the Environment may be able to provide you with further information in relation to its implementation.

I trust that this information is of assistance and addresses the concerns and specific issues you have raised.

Yours sincerely, Graham Lennox

Original Post - "Let's Be The Generation That Started The Clean Up"

This is the brilliant idea of the day. I sent the following letter to the Environment Department, Food and Marine ministers and Kerry Co. Council. We have the Wherewithal to clean up the ocean.

I discovered an equation. 

Stop using chemicals and collect all the plastic, starting NOW = The Earth completely recovers in 7 years

...It's like smoking. It's like the Organic Council found. All species and systems will bounce back.

And that is four years ahead of our 2030 carbon emissions target that the government was thinking of just trying to pay off - for 65 billion or million or squillion rather than address. But we can be Generation Y, Why? Because we made the mess in the first place and we have what it takes and Ireland can lead the way in it.

We keep hearing how the massive platform of plastic is getting closer to Ireland. The Skelligs are only 10 miles off Valentia. However we have the solution right there. There is a fleet of fishing boats and not one working fisherman on the island. There are expert search and rescue and cliff rescue teams. There is an ecologically driven diving school and a wildlife rescue team. Basically, Valentia has everything needed to go out and scrape up the plastic. Do not make them tender for a project or anything long-winded like that, just approach them to put together a plan. 

The factory trawlers could re-commissioned to take away 15,000 tonnes of the plastic at a time, to wherever there is a successful recycling plant that does not emit further pollution. There have been some miraculous systems invented. We could build one here but I think our real strength is that we could roll out the clean up approach all along the coast and then help other countries. The coastal communities are all skilled and unemployed and have watched their livelihoods and environment degrade over 20 years, with sonic blasting mapping and drilling, plastic pollution, agricultural run-off and sewage and the aforementioned factory trawlers.

But we have the solution and let's just do it. We are the second country to declare a climate emergency. Sea life and biodiversity are things we still know about. There is evidence that algae in the sea provides 40% of our oxygen. We can be the ones to instigate the clean up before the whole thing becomes a dead zone. 

I know that Ireland might not have created all that rubbish. I have seen pictures of Norway where they are very conscientious about their environment but it just gets washed up via currents, from other countries. We could employ brilliantly the whole country on such an important mission that has to happen now. Don't wait for some other country to think of it. 

The invention mentioned below is good but Australia has such a long coast of its own, they couldn't tackle it, where as we can. People with experience and skill of the sea can actively harvest the waste and rescue the seabirds and remaining fish and dolphins. Plus we are responsible for the massive amount of fishing nets that make up 40% of the dangerous waste.
Little Skellig Build Up Of Plastic

Australian Invention That Collects Plastic

I took the picture of the whole piglet wrapped in plastic out to make the post more accessible!!!

No more piglets in trouble please - I drove past QK Cold Stores yesterday. Where they keep meat for up to 15 years and two people have already topped themselves in there. The way we are living isn't good for anyone. But I mainly shared this picture because it's yet another one-use plastic wrapper...unless anyone would like to rinse it out and use it again??? No, I thought not!!