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SEARCULAR’s Solutions

SEARCULAR will act on solutions for three of the main contributors to European fishery plastics and microplastics- demersal trawlers, demersal seiners, and tropical tuna purse seiners, as well as a port-based solution. The project will introduce circular economy practices within the fisheries value chain and help fishermen and the fishing industry to adopt positive and sustainable behavioural change. SEARCULAR’s solutions will help reduce the use of fossil fuel in the production of fishing gear by 15% and create validated market solutions that are approved by stakeholders. In addition to supporting practices which minimise end-of-life fishing gear waste, the project will provide feedback to European policy legislation and work under policy directives such as the European Green Deal.

Tailored to the requirements of diverse fisheries, SEARCULAR’s solutions all have the potential to tackle marine plastics from fishing gears at source. Our work is helping to recirculate and eliminate waste from fishing gears, and, ultimately, supporting sustainable fisheries and healthy marine environments for generations to come.

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.

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Bio-seine ropes

Steel ropes coated with synthetic fibres used by demersal seiners can be a source of marine plastics pollution due to high rope abrasion and wear on fibres during use. To address this, SEARCULAR is testing seine rope coating made from biodegradable polymers that are three times more resistant to friction than traditional materials. This helps fishing gear last longer, while reducing the release of plastics from fisheries into the environment.

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Eco-FADs

Designed to attract fish, drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADs)— used in purse seine tuna fisheries – are usually made from durable plastics, which can accumulate in sensitive areas like coral reefs. To tackle this, SEARCULAR is trialling an eco ‘jellyFAD’ as a biodegradable alternative with a shorter life, to help reduce plastic waste accumulation and contribute to healthy habitats.

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Circular port-based solutions

Sustainable management of fishing gear at the end of its life is compulsory in the EU. However, issues relating to sorting, logistics, and traceability mean that a lot of fishing gear still ends up in landfill or incinerators. SEARCULAR will trial a port-based approach that can facilitate collection, sorting and conditioning of end-of-life fishing gear via a Plastic2Plastic strategy.

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