Removing, prospecting and valorization of lost fishing nets

Removing, prospecting and valorization of lost fishing nets

Each year, more than 640,000 fishing gears are lost or abandoned at sea, which represents 10% of marine debris. This gear is mainly composed of nylon that can take up to 600 years to fully degrade. Their drift has important consequences on marine biodiversity: when a species is trapped, it dies of suffocation and its carcass attracts scavengers which then in turn are trapped. 

NaturDive proposes to accompany the fishermen of Cannes, Antibes and the Lerins Islands (Natura 2000 area) to set up a rapid intervention to preserve biodiversity. This procedure that will allow these gears to be removed as soon as they are lost thanks to a meticulous methodology. Over the duration of this project, NaturDive estimates that it will be able to avoid the loss of about 10 fishing nets. Finally, a prospecting campaign will be carried out with the help of an underwater robot to collect data on the reality of the field and to prepare future removal actions.