BLUENET, creating new life for abandoned, lost or discarded fishing and aquaculture gears to prevent marine litter generation.
According to experts, 4.6-12.7 million tonnes of marine litter are added every year to our seas and oceans (Jambeck et al, 2015).
The Strand 2 “Marine Litter” of Sustainable Blue Economy call (European Commission) is looking for actions that reduce, monitor and quantify, remove and recycle marine litter produced by sea-based sources, such as fishing and aquaculture, shipping or offshore installations.
BLUENET aims at reducing, by the end of 2020, the marine litter from sea-based sources and from the SE Bay of Biscay by 20-40 %.
The sources to be investigated are aquaculture and fisheries, and the amount and harmfulness of marine litter produced by their Abandoned, Lost or Discarded Fishing Gears (ALDFG).
This will be achieve by
PROMOTING
PROMOTING
the proactivity of the sectors in combating marine litter, through ocean literacy.
PREVENTING
PREVENTING
The intentional and unintentional disposal of nets and ropes at the sea.
FACILITATING
FACILITATING
the recovery of nets and ropes to fishers and aquaculture operators.
UPCYCLING
UPCYCLING
by recycling them as raw materials for manufacturing new fishing and acualculture gears.
Our last news
BLUENET at “PLASTICS IN OUR OCEAN: a micro or macro challenge?” workshop
On the 1st of October 2019 our colleagues from AZTI attended to the presentation of the representative of the DG Mare Mr. Maris Stulgis in the framework of the workshop “PLASTICS IN OUR OCEAN: a micro or macro challenge?”. The event held in Donostia-San Sebastian (Spain) and [...]
BLUENET at the international textile machinery exhibition ITMA
BLUENET team joined the international textile machinery exhibition ITMA held on the 20th-26th of June 2019 in Barcelona (Spain). ITMA has become a leading trade fair of the textile industry over the past years and more than 700 exhibitors and 120000 [...]
First monofilament fibers produced from aquaculture waste
Our colleagues from GAIKER show us in this video the lab work carried out to obtain the first monofilament fibres from marine and aquaculture waste. Testing the state of degradation of the material, its processability [...]
Big bags ready for Fishing for Litter activities
BLUENET aims to reduce, by the end of 2020, the marine litter from sea-based sources and from the SE Bay of Biscay by 20%-40%. To achieve this purpose, fishing vessels involved in the project have been provided with big bags to collect ALDFG and other marine litter items caught in the nets during their normal fishing activities. The collection is in the framework of the international initiative Fishing for Litter promoted by KIMO. At first, 5 fishing vessels from the Basque region were to be equipped with these bags. However, thanks to the commitment and the active participation of the basque fishing sector, the fleet voluntarily joined to this project has grown over 20 vessels. Currently 200 big bags are ready to support the collection activities in the waters of the Bay of Biscay. Were are now looking to analyze the amounts, the type and the state of degradation of the litter collected by this committed fleet!
GAIKER hosts the first progress meeting of BLUENET
Last June 5th, the First Progress Meeting of the BLUENET Project was celebrated at GAIKER facilities. During the meeting, relevant advances on the management and collection schemes of marine wastes were discussed, and agreements obtained with [...]
BLUENET celebrates the European Maritime Day 2019 in Lisbon!
The European Maritime Day (EMD) is the annual two-day event during which Europe’s maritime community meet to network, discuss and forge joint action. It targets maritime professionals, entrepreneurs and ocean leaders. This year the event [...]