A close-up view of a beach covered in a large amount of marine litter, including tangled green and white plastic fishing ropes, various plastic debris, seaweed, soil, and rocks.

Tackling fishing and aquaculture gear in the Scottish Islands

We have been working closely with the Scottish Islands Federation over the last few years to better understand the types of litter impacting island communities.
Submit your Scottish Islands survey form

Thanks to funding from the Highlands and Islands Environment Foundation and the Conservation Collective X Depeche Mode X Hublot partnership we have been able to work with the Scottish Islands Federation and their members to increase the number of Beachwatch surveys being completed across the Scottish Islands.

Why focus on Scottish islands?

In 2023 we saw a 112% increase in the number of surveys submitted from across the Scottish Islands which showed fishing and aquaculture gear made up 49% of the litter recorded on Scottish Islands versus only 9% of the litter on mainland Scotland.

In 2024 we saw a further 16% increase in the number of surveys with the data telling a similar story. Fishing and aquaculture related litter made up 32% of all litter recorded on Scottish Islands, compared to only 12% of litter on mainland Scotland.

We then needed to further understand what specific types of fishing and aquaculture gear were ending up as litter so we can call for effective policy solutions to stop it becoming litter in the first place.

Some Blue and orange rope tangled up together

Dolly rope  |  Image credit: Vicki Last/Scottish Island Federation

Thanks to funding in 2025 and in collaboration with the Scottish Islands Federation we developed a new survey to help build this evidence base looking at 15 specific items of fishing and aquaculture gear that has been found as litter on Scottish Islands.

We had 61 volunteers taking part in the Littoral Lotto trial over the 2025/26 winter months completing 32 surveys and donating 143 hours. This was a fantastic effort particularly in light of winter storms halting many planned beach cleans.

See the results
a volunteer taking part in a beach clean-up

a volunteer taking part in a beach clean-up  |  Image credit: Billy Barraclough

The funding for this project has now ended however if you are interested in taking part in this survey to build on the evidence base provided by Beachwatch, please download the survey as we will continue to share this data with the Scottish Islands Federation. 

As part of the funded project the Scottish Islands Federation also produced an excellent beach litter ID guide to help with this survey form.

Take a look at the beach litter ID guide

When completing your survey please follow the guidelines and risk assessments as you would normally do for completing a Beachwatch survey or a Source to Sea Litter survey:

Beachwatch Resources

Source to Sea Litter Quest resources

If you have any questions about this project and future plans please email us

Thank you so much to everyone who supported this project and for helping us achieve a better understanding of the fishing and aquaculture litter impacting Scottish Islands.

Submit your Scottish Islands survey form
2 surfers holding surfboards and wearing wetsuits running alonga beach. The ocean is behind them

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