Marine debris on the South Korean coast has reached 140,000 tons per year(surveyed in 2002) and the loss on fishery production that arises from this marine debris has run to 33 billion yen. Since the collection and disposal of marine debris cost large sums of money and huge amounts of energy, the problem seemed hard to solve, however, the South Korean government put the "South Korea's System for Purchase of Marine Debris" in execution as a pilot project for fishermen from 2003. This project is working towards awareness-raising among fishermen as well as a reduction on cleanup cost.