Responsibility Measures

Individual responsibility: add serial number on materials (e.g. on mussel cones). Increase mandatory labelling to discourage littering and to make informed choices for environmentally friendly gear and materials, e.g. via traffic-light system. To avoid a confusing variety of labels, certain information should be incorportated into an existing label instead of creating a new label. Labels should differentiate between: Consumables (SUP) and durables; high-performance (longer re-use), high-risk items (short use, high risk of loss). Guidelines and specifications should be created for these types of materials and equipment. Introduce a sustainable label on seafood to support the food and consumer value chain. The label needs to be universal at EU level. Similar approaches should be taken for sustainable mateirals used in the sector whith defined sustainability criteria. Shift toward more sustainabel and reyclable materials in single-use and reusable food containers, e.g. by setting minimunm recycled contnt quota or standars for plastic tpyes like lightweight plastic (PE, PP) and polymeres with high density (PA, PEt). Focus on the design of aquaculture facilites in creating stable and solid infrastructures to minimize losses and damages. All aquaculture gear should be able to attach to other items to avoid loss or damage. All plastic used for the aquaculture facilities should be recyclable Use alternative natural materials instead of plastic whenever possible. Improve the control points of waste prevention in the aquaculture standards for good practices certification: they should be feasible to be implemented by producers and feasible to be verified by the certification body. It is possible that gear producers will switch to using other materials or to improve the gear design when they are responsible for the creation and maintenance of the EPR system Producers should opt for alternative materials. The mussel baskets would be more resistant if made of stainless steel, which would avoid fragments disposing in the marine environment after continuious scraping and abrasion of the baskets. Producers should add more technical information on materials for sale in terms of durability, longevity and resistance to bad weather Currently, producers are not responsible for cleaning-up measures related to fishing/aquaculture gear. This gap will not be closed by the new EU Single-use-plastic Directive (SUPD) until 2021. However, national legislation is free to extend the legislative frame and could include clean-up responsibilities for producers. Producer Responsibility – gear producers should offer recycling or returning facility for farmers. A deposit system can work very effectively for larger items, whereas small items that are lost very frequently (because these are light, cheap and their retrieval is considered to be a waste of time) should be replaced by alternatives and, in case this is not possible, their use should be closely linked to awareness-raising and training of the e.g. staff responsible for installation. Small twines from pure cotton of 1.1mm thickness are used for the delivery of small seedlings of seaweed. They can be lost when unpacking and attaching to bigger ropes. That is why farmers choose cotton as the loss of small twines is common. Mussel pegs or plastic stoppers could be replaced. Re-usable mussel collectors and mussel socks. Introduce specific requirements on product design by using Ecodesign Directive product requirements or EU waste directives to stipulate certain product designs. Adapt product design to reduce mixed-plastic products relevant for aquaculture to foster higher recycling rates. Improve funding programmes to support the use of environmental friendly materials, like Horizon2020 and EMFF. Mitigate the price impact on aquaculture gear and materials composed of more durable materials instead of cheap plastics by a gradual shift in the production of materials by gear producers to facilitate the adaptation of the aquaculture farmer. Insurance companies have a relevant role as they need to know the life time of the material/part of a system (e.g. polyester boxes and their standardised lifetime) warranty. As long as producers do not have standards provided, they will not risk to have no insurance or to have an extremely high insurance because of high risk of operation. Transparent, new standards for gear following circularity criteria will lower insurance costs for farmers and support their willingness to buy only these products.