Working with the National Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds (FNCP) and the Galician Automotive Technology Centre (CTAG), Spanish fishing industry federation Cepesca aims to recover at least 100 tonnes of discarded fishing nets and gear as part of its Redes de España initiative.
The involvement of CTAG is part of introducing innovative techniques that contribute to guaranteeing circularity, including the development of materials made from components derived from discarded fishing nets and gear, as a first step to their re-use in automotive, marine of aeronautical industry sectors.
‘Involvement in this project means advancing strategic lines by transferring innovation capabilities, and progressing in the search for new solutions to achieve a real circular economy, revaluing waste from the fishing industry and seeking new high added-value applications in the mobility sector,’ commented Raquel Ledo, head of the Product and Materials Innovation Department at CTAG.
Redes de España’s objectives are to prevent pollution and its impact on biodiversity, to promote the circular economy in the management of discarded fishing gear and also to comply with the European framework on single-use plastics. This includes the implementation of a national certification for the management and recycling of fishing gear and nets that have reached the end of their useful life.
This is expected to enable the fishing sector to comply with Single Use Plastics European Directive 2019/904. This directive will requires states to promote a system of extended producer responsibility (EPR), so that producers of nets and fishing gear containing plastic provide collection and treatment of waste from these fishing gears.
‘With the Redes de España project, the fishing sector continues to make progress in responding to the environmental challenge posed by discarded fishing nets and gear,’ said Nadia Moalla, Head of Projects and Innovation at Cepesca.
‘The initiative will take advantage of all the knowledge and experience accumulated with the REDUSE and REDUSE II projects and will also expand its scope thanks to the participation of the FNCP, thereby bringing together practically the entire Spanish fishing sector.’
Designed to run for 18 months, the Redes de España project will continue to January 2026, backed by around €1 million of European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF) funding.
‘Redes de España is a clear example of the potential that the sector has when it works with a common objective; it has been proven that the fishing sector is a fundamental part of the solution to the problems of marine litter,’ commented Basilio Otero, president of the National Federation of Fishermen’s Guilds (FNCP).
‘With the VIGIAMAR project we have worked on the geolocation of marine litter. Now, together with Cepesca, we are taking action to transform it into new components for the industry.’
