6th Rendez-vous of the Community of practice
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- 6th Rendez-vous of the Community of practice
Every year, some 80,000 km² of nets are lost and abandoned at sea.
Have you heard of ghost nets ? Ghosts nets are fishing nets that have been abandoned, lost and discarded in oceans, lakes and rivers.
What is the impact of ghost nets ? Every year, abandoned fishing gear kills or injures large number of animal, destroys ecosytems, shorelines and damages boats.
To fight against these issues, the active members of our Community of practice met to discuss alternatives to the fishing nets that pollute our Mediterranean.
We focused on two projects supported by BeMed:
Firstly, Lebanese Developers presented by Roy Abijaoude : the aim of the project supported is to collect used nets via cooperatives (North, Beirut, South, Metn/Kes/Bell) and to encourage fishermen not to leave nets at sea and to collect them so that they can be recycled. It focuses on abandoned nylon fishing nets on the north coast of Lebanon and targets nets that are no longer usable or discarded at sea. The project aims to remove abandoned fishing nets and give them a second life by transforming them into pellets, which can be used to make plastic pipes, plant pots, etc.
Followed by Isotech : the Sealife projet aim to make biodegradable fishing nets using materials derived from 1st or 2nd generation bioplastics. The materials are manufactured in France and the nets are sewn in Italy. They are organizing tests on new fishing alternatives, study the conditions, and analyse initial results.
These discussions helped to put in touch the organisations in our Community that are working on similar topics and to create synergies and a mapping of the stakeholders.
Thanks to all the participants for sharing their experiences and to help find new alternatives in the fishing industry.
