The Christian democrat politician has the refuse fishermen dump at sea in his sights. He's offering to pay ten euros for every bag of refuse landed at a Belgian port.

Mr Schouppe told the VRT that the problem was on the increase: "Birds and fish get tangled in refuse dumped at sea. It often means their death."

The North Sea Minister has calculated that some 600,000 cubic metres of refuse are dumped in the Belgian sector of the North Sea each and every year.