Legislation measures

The results of the analysis of the technical characteristics of suitable material for aquaculture gear and life-cycle steps should be incorporated in environmental aquaculture regulation and gear made following these recommendations should be included as a certified good practice.

Regulations Regulations

Relevant type of aquaculture:

Fish Shellfish Seaweed

Relevant sea basin:

Mediterranean

Relevant stage:

Prevention and reduction

Related Barriers:

  • In general, the design of the gear is not optimized to the harsh marine conditions where some of the aquaculture activities take place.

  • There are currently no real alternatives to most of the items made of plastic (e.g. the tubular nets used for mussel farming). There are plastics (currently used in greenhouses) that dissolve in water, but they are very expensive. Besides, biodegradable plastics cannot yet be considered as an alternative to conventional plastics because they take some time to degrade, having an environmental impact as a consequence. In addition, they are not sufficiently resistant to harsh environmental conditions

  • The prevention of marine litter should be the base of the circular economy. Currently, gear producers are not considerably involved or interested in this type of approach, making sustainable design, research on alternative materials, etc, not their priority.

Related Good Practice:

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