Recycled dolly ropes

Traditional dolly ropes used on trawlers fray easily, have a reasonably limited lifespan, and are sometimes lost at sea. At the same time, every year thousands of tonnes of fishing nets are discarded, having reached the end of their life. SEARCULAR is reconditioning end-of-life purse seine nets to manufacture more resistant dolly rope, simultaneously reducing fisheries related marine litter at sea and the number of discarded nets in ports.

The problem

SEARCULAR’s Solution 1 simultaneously addresses two problems. The first problem is that tonnes of purse seine nets are discarded at ports and lost at sea every year. These nets either become part of the marine environment causing harm to marine species via entanglement and unintended bycatch, or end up in landfill or incineration. The second problem Solution 1 addresses is the impact of traditional polyethylene (PE) dolly ropes used in trawling around Europe. Traditional PE dolly ropes are often lost at sea, and degrade easily shedding plastics into the marine environment causing harm to marine life and require regular replacement for fishers.

The solution

Solution 1 will tackle both problems via the circular economy principles of adding value to waste, extending product life spans and repurposing materials in a loop. In this solution material from discarded, recovered, and reconditioned purse seine nets will be repurposed into new dolly ropes from the recycled material. The dolly ropes will be designed and tested to be more resistant and durable than traditional ropes made from new materials. This circular solution will considerably reduce marine litter by offering an end-of-life solution for purse seine nets and reduce microplastics generated by dolly ropes across Europe through the implementation of a more durable, recycled material.