
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
4th BLUENET progress meeting
Last December 18th, BLUENET team held the 4th progress meeting. This meeting takes place every six months to share and discussed the performed work and the steps to undertake in the near future. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, as happened [...]
Visit to the Basque fishing ports involved in BLUENET
During this week, we have visited the three fishing ports that collaborate with BLUENET Project. We started our visits at the port of Bermeo, where we checked the collection bins used by the fishers to [...]
Meet Gorka Markalain, our new recruit for BLUENET
Gorka Markalain ha joined BLUENET’s AZTI team as coordinator of the Fishing for Litter initiative in the Basque Country. He is experienced in Fishing for Litter initiatives, as he has been involved in similar activities with the fishing [...]
BLUENET at the “Innovative Projects for a Sustainable Blue Economy” event organised by the Directorate General for Maritime and Fisheries Affairs (DG MARE) and EASME
The BLUENET has participated in the “Innovative Project for a Sustainable Blue Economy” online event (https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/section/easme-home/join-easme-side-events-world-circular-economy-forum-online-2020) organised by the Directorate General for Maritime and Fisheries Affairs (DG MARE) and EASME as a side event to the World Circular Economy Forum (#WCEF). This event [...]
125 kg of ALDFG trawling net recovered and well managed thanks to the collaboration between MATER Museoa and BLUENET
As part of the awareness raising campaign #ZeroZaborUretan, the retrofitted F/V Barco Museo Ecoactivo Mater (www.matermuseoa.com/) collected this lost trawling net that was found floating in the coastal waters of the Basque Country, near the municipality of Deba, at the end of July 2020. In view of [...]
1st sea sampling of BLUENET done
Today is a great day! The 1st sampling of #BLUENET_EUproject has been performed with good results. Mussels are growing well, and the recycled ropes look good. So far so good! In these periodic samplings are [...]