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Truckloads of debris wash ashore from fishing boat that smashed onto rocks

David Deldayand
Megan Bonar,BBC Scotland
Hannah Findlay A female volunteer beside a trailer loaded with collected marine litter, including broken plastic fish boxes and bags.Hannah Findlay
Hannah Findlay has been collecting rubbish from beaches across Orkney

Volunteers have been collecting truckloads of debris washed ashore from a fishing boat which ran aground and dramatically smashed apart off the west coast of Orkney.

The Genesis fishing boat struck rocks off the west coast of the island of Hoy on 1 October. All seventeen members of its crew were airlifted to safety.

Since then, fishing boxes, pallets and parts of the vessel itself have been washing up along the coastline, buffeted about by recent storms. Items also include personal belongings such as welly boots, thought to have belonged to members of the crew.

Those picking up the debris at Rackwick Bay told the BBC they will be finding parts of the wreckage for "months or years to come".

Footage shows the damage caused to the boat

The week after the grounding, Hannah Findlay was walking her dog near to Skail - about 30 miles (48km) away from Hoy - where she saw lots of green fishing boxes strewn across the beach.

"I thought 'right, well I've got to do something about this,'" she told BBC Scotland.

"The sea can be really ferocious here and it's just smashing it against the rocks - the stuff is just breaking up."

On day one, she collected around 30 or 40 boxes - then enlisted the help of a friend to continue the job and joined other volunteers along the coast.

Findlay said teams were beginning to see the "innards" of the boat - wooden structures and bunks as well as more unusual items.

"We were just chatting this morning about how much Sellotape we have been finding and that's got to be coming off this boat," she said.

"Most of what was on there we'll be finding for months or years to come."

Hannah Findlay A female volunteer standing on a rocky shoreline holding plastic debris and a lifebuoy recovered during a beach clean.Hannah Findlay
Findlay said they have found life rings and welly boots
Hannah Findlay A pile of mixed waste including broken plastic crates, red bags and rubbish inside a waste processing facility.Hannah Findlay
Masses of plastics have been collected from beaches all across the island

Last week during calm weather, a team of volunteers were also able to venture close to the wreckage site, using a boat and a smaller rigid inflatable boat (RIB) to reach land.

All the waste collected has been loaded onto a trailer and is taken to a waste centre on Orkney's mainland.

Alan Tulloch told BBC Scotland News there is so much plastic is it visible from planes - and that recent storms have buried debris which will wash up in time.

He said: "The majority of the material is still there. Thousands of bits of now pretty broken up plastics. There is ropes and lines and bits of the cabins too.

"It's extremely inaccessible, you are straight into the Atlantic. There are rocks the size of transit vans.

"We are just trying to gather as much as we possibly can. It's going to be a long process."

Volunteers are working to clear beaches of debris from the stricken trawler

The Genesis was left stranded on rocks after the incident and was subsequently battered by heavy seas, with footage showing the vessel breaking apart.

HM Coastguard previously said the amount of diesel on board was believed to be minimal, while its counter-pollution team was liaising with the vessel's owner and relevant authorities over potential salvage.

All 17 crew members were rescued without injury.

Four of the vessel's crew were from Spain and have returned home. The other members of the crew are from Indonesia and have also left the island.