Spanish industry federation Cepesca has brought together eight port authorities, a fishing company and a fishing gear supplier to launch pilot projects for the responsible handling of fishing gear, incorporating extended producer responsibility in dealing with gear that has come to the end of its useful life.
These pilot projects have been developed as part of the Red-Use-II initiative. Participating companies are tuna company Grup Balfegó, based at L’Ametlla de Mar, and Alicante fishing gear designer and supplier Redes Tambores.
The pilot projects are carried out at the fishing ports of Cala Rajada and Ibiza in the Balearic Islands, Celeiro and Ribeira in Galicia, Luanco, Santander, and the Andalusian ports of Carboneras and Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
The Cepesca technical team has visited the locations and has held meetings with representatives of port authorities, companies, fishermen’s associations and other involved parties to verify the implementation of the established protocol, identify obstacles and analyse possible solutions to improve management.
The role played by Cepesca is to supervise the correct use of the containers and the different phases of the protocol – the removal of the discarded fishing nets and gear, their transfer to the recycling plant, monitoring of the removed waste and its management.
Cepesca aims to consolidate expertise and know-how at social, economic and environmental levels to develop a strategy that can be extended to other ports and entities.
