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61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Developing a Circular Economy for Fishing Gear in the Northern Periphery and Arctic Region: Challenges and Opportunities
ClearCircular Business Models for SMEs in the Fishing Gear Industry
This chapter examines how small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the fishing gear industry can adopt circular business models to recycle fishing nets, ropes, and components rather than discarding them. Lost and discarded fishing gear is a major source of ocean plastic pollution and microplastic generation in marine environments.
Opportunities for Circular Business Models and Circular Design Related to Fishing Gear
This chapter examines how circular economy principles — designing products to be reused, repaired, or recycled — can be applied to fishing gear, which is a major source of ocean plastic pollution, reviewing relevant EU legislation and proposing new business models and design strategies to keep fishing equipment out of the ocean.
Challenges and Opportunities for Recycled Polyethylene Fishing Nets: Towards a Circular Economy
Researchers examined the challenges of recycling polyethylene from discarded fishing nets, finding that contaminants and degradation during the nets' service life significantly reduce the mechanical properties of recycled resins. The study explores strategies to improve recycled fishing net polyethylene quality and advance circular economy approaches for marine plastic waste.
Waste to Value Process Chain for Recycling of Fishing Gear Collected from Coastal Waters
Researchers developed and evaluated a waste-to-value recycling process chain for fishing gear collected from coastal waters, addressing the challenges of heterogeneous and contaminated input materials and demonstrating pathways to convert post-use fishing nets and gear into useful recycled products while supporting coastal economies.
Fishing net waste management: quantification and valorization
Abandoned and discarded fishing nets are a major source of microplastics in the ocean because they are made of synthetic fibers that slowly fragment over time. This study quantified the volume of fishing net waste generated in a Portuguese fishing port and evaluated strategies for diverting it from landfill toward recycling and material recovery. Effective management of fishing gear waste is a practical lever for reducing one of the most persistent sources of marine microplastic pollution.
Fishing fleet waste and its impact on the marine environment
This brief report summarizes the environmental impacts of waste generated by fishing fleets, including plastic gear, nets, and packaging that are major sources of marine microplastic pollution. Lost and discarded fishing equipment — known as ghost gear — is one of the most persistent forms of plastic waste in the ocean.
An Overview of the Current Trends in Marine Plastic Litter Management for a Sustainable Development
This review summarizes current knowledge about marine plastic litter, from its land-based origins to its distribution across ocean environments, and evaluates recovery and recycling strategies. Researchers found that while technologies for collecting and recycling marine plastics are advancing, significant economic and logistical barriers remain. The study emphasizes that a circular economy approach, combining prevention, collection, and material recovery, is essential for addressing ocean plastic pollution.
Supplementary file 1_Fishing net waste management: quantification and valorization.docx
Researchers developed a methodology to quantify discarded fishing net waste from Latvia's fishing gear industries and evaluated waste valorisation scenarios including reuse, recycling, and energy recovery using environmental life cycle assessment and environmental damage cost methods. The study frames fishing net waste management within circular economy principles, identifying pathways to reduce microplastic release from abandoned or discarded gear into marine ecosystems.
Quantification and environmental pollution aspects of lost fishing gear in the Nordic countries
Researchers compiled data from Nordic countries on the quantity and composition of abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) in aquatic environments, examining contributions to macro- and microplastic pollution and hazardous chemical contamination, while also evaluating prevention strategies and mitigation options for lost gear impacts.
Application of Systems Engineering and Sustainable Development Goals towards Sustainable Management of Fishing Gear Resources in Norway
This study applied systems engineering principles to improve the management of fishing gear in Norway, addressing the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear—a major source of ocean plastic pollution. The authors propose better tracking, recovery, and recycling systems to reduce fishing gear as a plastic pollution source.
End of life at the top of the world—stakeholder perspectives for plastics and circular transitions in the Arctic
Researchers examined stakeholder perspectives on plastic waste management and circular economy transitions in the Arctic, finding that remote communities face unique challenges in implementing plastic reduction strategies due to limited infrastructure and extreme conditions.
Potential microplastic release from beached fishing gear in Great Britain's region of highest fishing litter density
Researchers surveyed abandoned fishing gear on beaches in Great Britain's highest fishing litter density region, characterizing rope and net types to estimate potential microplastic release from degrading marine-based plastic pollution sources.
Eco-friendly Fishing Gear and Sustainable Materials: A Review
This review examines the shift toward eco-friendly fishing gear — including biodegradable polymers, GPS-enabled retrieval systems, and modular designs — as a way to reduce the massive amount of microplastic pollution caused by abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing nets and lines. Case studies from the EU, Japan, the US, and elsewhere show promising results, but barriers like cost and fisher awareness still limit widespread adoption. Addressing lost fishing gear is important because it is one of the ocean's largest sources of persistent plastic debris.
Marine Plastics: Innovative Solutions to Tackling Waste
This book examines how small and medium enterprises in the fishing gear industry can develop environmentally and economically sustainable circular business models to tackle marine plastic waste.
An Integrated Approach to Assessing the Potential of Plastic Fishing Gear to Release Microplastics
Researchers developed an integrated approach to assess how abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear releases microplastics into marine environments. The study found that fishing gear is a significant but understudied source of microplastic pollution, and the research provides new methods for quantifying microplastic release from different types of plastic fishing equipment.
The role of recycling and biodegradable materials in aquaculture and fisheries
This review examines the status and technical barriers to recycling plastics from fishing gear and aquaculture equipment in Norway and Iceland, and assesses biodegradable materials as an alternative, noting that circular value chains are critical for reducing the substantial microplastic pollution generated across the lifecycle of aquaculture plastics. Fishing gear and aquaculture equipment are among the largest sources of plastic pollution in marine environments, making sector-specific recycling solutions a priority.
Plastic litter in the European Arctic: What do we know?
Researchers reviewed available evidence on plastic litter in the European Arctic, finding that despite limited data, microplastics are present in every environmental compartment — including sea ice — and are being transported to this remote region from distant sources via ocean currents and wind.
Observations of floating anthropogenic litter in the Barents Sea and Fram Strait, Arctic
Ship and helicopter surveys in the Barents Sea and Fram Strait confirmed the presence of anthropogenic litter, mostly plastic, in these remote Arctic waters. The findings indicate that ocean currents transport plastic debris from distant sources to even the most isolated polar seas, leaving no part of the global ocean untouched.
Plastic Recovery and Utilization: From Ocean Pollution to Green Economy
This review examines strategies for recovering and utilizing ocean plastic waste within a green economy framework, covering collection technologies, recycling pathways, and circular economy approaches to transform marine plastic pollution into valuable resources.
Properties and Recyclability of Abandoned Fishing Net-Based Plastic Debris
This review examines how abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear degrades in marine environments through biocatalytic and photocatalytic mechanisms, while exploring the ecological damage caused and evaluating recycling practices and alternative uses as strategies for managing this significant source of marine plastic pollution.
Potential sources of marine plastic from survey beaches in the Arctic and Northeast Atlantic
This study traced the likely sources of plastic litter accumulating on Arctic and Northeast Atlantic beaches to fishing and aquaculture activities, using polymer composition and item type as indicators of origin.
Netting the problem: a comprehensive analysis of marine litter on artisanal fishers
A systematic global review found that while marine litter's ecological impacts are well-documented, research on its socioeconomic effects on artisanal fishing communities is sparse—revealing significant financial losses, gear damage, and safety risks that disproportionately affect small-scale fishers.
Designing a Value-Added Tax-integrated recovery scheme for Abandoned, Lost or Discarded Fishing Gear: Science–policy integration and decision-support for Vietnam’s fisheries
Researchers designed a VAT-integrated recovery scheme for abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear in Vietnam, finding through a survey of 1,525 fishers that refunding the 5% VAT on new gear in exchange for returning recovered gear at ports — combined with allowing fishers to retain informal resale proceeds — could substantially increase participation in circular economy recovery programs.
Ghost Fishing Gear: An Overlooked Threat in Marine Debris Management
This review examines the problem of abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear, often called ghost gear, which continues to catch and kill marine life long after it is lost at sea. The synthetic materials in this gear break down into microplastics and damage ecosystems including coral reefs, seagrass beds, and seafloor habitats. The authors call for stronger policies, biodegradable fishing materials, and better gear tracking technologies to address this overlooked source of ocean plastic pollution.