Fishermen discover the plastic litter among the fish in their nets which they've just opened. Greece owns a fleet of more than 250 professional trawler boats using fishing nets that are pulled along the bottom of the sea or at a specified depth.

"Fishing for Litters'" main aim is to reduce marine waster by involving the local fishing industry. The project, funded by the A.C. Laskaridis Charitable Foundation, runs from October to December and covers the two biggest ports of northern Greece, Thessaloniki and Kavala.

Since October, fishermen involved in the project have caught more than 1.5 tons of litter in their fishing areas of the Aegean Sea. Eight bottom trawling boats from Kavala and Thessaloniki have been involved in collecting and registering the plastic waste.

Changing waste-management practices and removing marine litter from the seafloor is one of the project’s priorities. Another objective is to raise awareness among the fishing industry and change the approach toward dealing with waste.

Large swathes of the seabed are covered in plastic and other waste. Occasionally bulky litter, like this plastic chair, form their own eco-system on the seabed. Scientists are still trying to understand the extent of the consequences for marine life.

Marine scientist Christina Kontaxi, who heads the "Fishing for Litter" initiative, holds up a plastic bag caught in the fishing nets. Plastic bags, bottles and tin cans make up the majority of litter dragged up with the catch. There is a high concentration of waste in areas that are popular with tourists, such as Thermaikos and the Gulf of Toroneos.

Once the plastic has been separated from the fish, fishermen involved in the project store it in large bags provided by the project so that it can be disposed in an environmentally friendly fashion back on shore. Discarded items include materials used by purse seine fishing boats, specifically heavy weights and plastic ropes, and plastic octopus traps discarded by artisanal fisheries.

Local fishermen try to separate the fish, which will be distributed to local markets, from marine waste. More than 70,000 tons of fish are caught every year in Greece. The fishing industry is an important part of the Greek economy, with around 10,000 fishermen.

The activists involved in the "Fishing for Litter" project document and collect data on the amount of plastic waste that has been dragged up in the fishing nets. The initiative is currently operating in the ports of Michaniona and Kavala in Northern Greece in collaboration with iSea, the Environmental Organization for the Preservation of the Aquatic Ecosystems, which is based in Thessaloniki.