Reducing marine litter and microplastics from fishing industry – a case example from SEARCULAR project

Plastic pollution in oceans is a well-known problem. It is estimated that nearly 10% of the marine litter originates from the fishing industry. The EU Horizon project SEARCULAR aims to find ways to reduce marine litter and microplastics from fishery through four case studies: dolly ropes from recycled fishing gears, bio-based seine ropes, biobased drifting Fish Aggregating Devices (dFADS) and collection systems at ports for end-of-life treatment of fishing gears.

This study focuses on assessing the environmental impacts and sustainability of dolly ropes made from recycled PA. The environmental impact of traditional dolly ropes made from polyethylene are compared with dolly ropes made from recycled polyamide. Recycled polyamide is expected to be more durable against abrasion than the traditional polyethylene and can thus reduce the release of plastics and micro-plastics to the oceans. The mechanically recycled polyamide is produced from collected purse seine nets at the end of their life, i.e. from the fishing industry, thus also reducing marine litter. The assessment will cover the production stage of both dolly rope alternatives and their performance in real fishing operation conditions onboard.

The environmental impact of the recycled polyamide-based dolly ropes will be studied with life cycle assessment (LCA) method (ISO 14040-44) and compared to the traditional alternative with similar functionalities. The environmental impacts will be studied with the Environmental Footprint 3.1 (EF3.1) impact assessment method suggested by the European Commission. In addition, potential impacts of microplastics emissions will be assessed with two new available impact methodologies to understand the importance of microplastic emissions in the total environmental footprint context and to compare the differences between the different microplastics assessment methodologies.