An international initiative aimed at recovering fishing nets and other marine litter from the sea for recycling, has so far recovered 20 tonnes of fishing nets from the sea floor.
The Healthy Seas initiative, set up by nylon polymer manufacturer Aquafil, sock company Star Sock and the European Centre for Nature Conservation (ECNC) earlier this year, aims to clean up litter from the world’s oceans – particularly fishing nets – and recycle it into garments and fabrics.
Ahead of the official launch of the project next month, Healthy Seas has announced that in the first operative mission, it has collected more than 20 tonnes of fishing nets from the bottom of the North Sea.
Scuba divers collected the waste from the sea floor off the coasts of Holland and Belgium, chosen because they have an ‘abundant presence of naval wrecks in the waters’.
The nets will now be transported to the processing factory in Slovenia, where they will be regenerated into new Econyl yarns, a nylon product manufactured by Aquafil from recycled plastics. By creating nylon from recycled materials, Aquafil estimates that the process will eliminate 11,000 tonnes of waste and save 70,000 barrels of oil every year.
According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), lost or discarded fishing gear makes up one tenth of all marine litter, equivalent to 640,000 tonnes a year.
In other developments, the project has also seen new partners come onboard: Norsk Fiskeriretur AS (Nofir), a Norwegian recycling firm that manages end-of-life products from the fishing and fish farming industries; and Fonda Fish farm, a Slovenian fish breeding firm.
Phased introduction
The Healthy Seas project will be rolled out in a phased manner. The first phase will see operations commence in three test regions: the North Sea (with the Netherlands and Belgium participating), the Adriatic Sea (Italy, Slovenia and Croatia) and the Mediterranean Sea (Spain). These pilot schemes will be run with the purpose of identifying the most efficient practices for the project.
The second phase will seek to identify procedures that will help deter the abandonment of fishing nets at sea and encourage responsible end-of-life handling. This phase will also see the expansion of the project ‘into other areas’, according to ECNC.
Finally, the third phase will see proposals for future action being developed and, according to ECNC, ‘submitted to governments and legislators to ensure that the Healthy Seas Initiative will deliver long-term results and that public awareness will be maximised’.
Events and training courses will also be held ‘to promote and raise the awareness of people, including the younger generation, about the preservation of our seas’ environment and health’.
In addition, a ‘Healthy Seas Fund’ will be established with the goal of removing abandoned fishing nets from the oceans, raising awareness of the problem and financing local projects that support the objectives of the Healthy Seas initiative.
Read more about the Healthy Seas project.
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