Tuna purse-seine organizations OPAGAC and ORTHONGEL have partnered with start-up Brikole to launch a two-phase fishing-net recycling project in the Seychelles.
OPAGAC is a Spanish organization representing large tuna seiners, while ORTHONGEL is a French organization of frozen and deep-frozen tuna producers. Brikole is managed by Seychellois NGO Sustainability for Seychelles, and the project has the backing of the Seychellois Department of Blue Economy – an enabled collaboration between the public and private sector in the tuna industry. The collaboration was formed in the push to increase recycling of end-of-life fishing nets used by purse seiners operating in Seychelles, according to a statement by Europêche.
In the first phase of the net recycling project, the existing net repair yard will be cleared of any old gear and equipment, signaling a new start for the end-of-life fishing nets used by the purse-seine fleet.
Europêche represents around 45,000 vessels, both artisanal and large-scale; 80,000 fishers; and 16 member organizations from 10 European countries. The company said the second phase of the Seychelles net recycling project will entail construction and subsequent commission of a recycling facility to create opportunities to process old and discarded fishing nets.
For OPAGAC, the agreement with Brikole is a boost for an initiative it finances, and includes an evaluation of the project in consultation with tuna-industry stakeholders in the Seychelles as they seek a lasting solution to eliminating net waste.
According to Sustainability for Seychelles, "all parties involved want to limit the impact of fishing on the environment and so they want to address the issue of end-of-life fishing nets in Seychelles through sustainable business operations.”
“This is a groundbreaking project to which OPAGAC companies are proud to contribute by donating end-of-life fishing nets for effective recycling, generating added value in Seychelles,” OPAGAC Managing Director Julio Morón said.
ORTHONGEL President Xavier Leduc said the partnership “will not only prevent the waste of old fishing nets, but also guarantee that they are recycled.”
With the new partnership in net recycling in Seychelles, Brikole said it expects it will regularly get donations of end-of-life nets from 29 vessels – including eight from Spain, six from the Seychelles, 11 from France, three from Mauritius, and one from Italy. Brikole is working to start operations soon, and progress in the development of the recycling process, according to Europêche.
Global nonprofit World Animal Protection estimates that abandoned nets kill at least 136,000 seals, sea lions, and whales every year, according to a report by the Environmental Justice Foundation.
The report estimates at least 10 percent of all marine litter is estimated to originate from the fishing industry, meaning that between 500,000 and one million tons of fishing gears and nets are entering the oceans annually.
Photo courtesy of Seychelles News Agency
