Legislation measures

Technically, gear must be thoroughly washed to comply with national antifouling regulations and must be separated/sorted manually, which is time-intensive. Therefore, some countries like Germany have outsourced the sorting of fishing gear to countries with lower labour costs. In a mid- to long-term perspective, it seems to be more efficient, cost effective and climate friendly, to support national recycling companies in adding or specialising on recycling nets.

Regulations Regulations

Old gear - Efthalia Arvaniti Old gear - Efthalia Arvaniti

Relevant type of aquaculture:

Fish Shellfish Seaweed

Relevant sea basin:

Baltic

Relevant stage:

Removal and recycling

Related Barriers:

  • Market incentives for the effective participation in separate collection or for the return of special types of aquaculture gear (like cages) in the form of deposit return schemes are lacking.

  • Procedures for dismantling are not economically efficient today and should be further optimized. Manual dismantling processes only exist in some Baltic Sea countries and transport across countries is expensive.

  • Weak transport opportunities of gear between ports and recycling facilities.

  • Despite the potential value of some of the fishing gear, recycling is very limited and left to a few innovative operators. There is currently no structured approach to setting up specific mechanisms or tackling the costs of dealing with aquaculture gear containing plastic once landed in port.

  • Lacking market incentives are directly linked with poor waste management which is also related to complex gear products or mixed-pastic formats not designed for recyclabilitiy.

Related Good Practice:

R&R GP4.1

Waste companies testing regional approaches of net recycling

Large waste companies like the German ALBA have started pilot projects to test the ability to recycle nets, even if they are very dirty due to a long period in the sea (this is relevant for ALDFG in many cases). These regional approaches could act as promising models for other recycling companies, supported by start-up funding derived of EPR measures.