Welcome
to the website dedicated to preventing waste in fishing ports on the Atlantic coast
As part of the Free-LitterAT project, several European partners (France, Spain, Portugal, Ireland) are working together to tackle marine litter. One of the key priorities is to reduce waste from used fishing gear and waste passively fished by encouraging its collection, treatment and recycling.
Find out more about current practices in fishing ports on the Atlantic coast and the solutions that can be implemented to limit the impact of this waste on the oceans.
Recycling
of used fishing gears
nets, trawls, traps, dredges, lines, seines, etc.
1. MANUFACTURING
• Fishing gear producers: manufactures, sells or imports fishing gear
2. USE
• Fishermen (“sailors” or “skippers”) who work on trawlers, gillnetters, line boats, pot boats…
3. SORTING
• Fishermen
• Port agents
4. DISMANTLING
• Companies specialising in the assembly and dismantling of fishing nets
• Fishermen
• Retired fishermen
• Adapted employment services
5. STORAGE
Storage facilities provided by the port manager:
• On the quayside
• In a port reception facility
• In a dedicated warehouse
6. TRANSPORT
• By the port agents themselves
• By a transport service provider
7. WASTE MANAGEMENT
• Recycling: mechanical or chemical recycling and manufacture of new objects from used fishing gear.
• Other types of waste management: Incineration, Landfill, Energy recovery.
Today, the majority of used fishing gear ends up in landfill.
• Other existing practices: Repair, reuse, repurposing, etc.
Create zero-waste coastal communities by combining knowledge,
tools and technologies with pilot actions involving the participation of multiple stakeholders.
Fishing port sheets
information sheet
Fishing port of Vigo
General cargo, bulk solids, ship service, fishing activity (fresh and frozen), fish market.
Fishing practice: fleet of 359 vessels and ships (mostly artisanal vessels)
Landings: Black monkfish, White monkfish, Blue shark, Swordfish, Northern megrim, Atlantic pomfret, European hake, Korean flounder, Common squid, Horse mackerel…
information sheet
Fishing port of Castletownbere
A busy port that is home to several state organisations and fishing businesses. Including a seafood processing plant, an ice plant, fisherman’s co-op, and shipping agents. Cruise liners and island ferries also dock here.
30 x >20m fishing vessels are based at the port, the majority are whitefish trawlers.
information sheet
Fishing port of Dunmore East
A busy fishing harbour, home to a sailing club food shop/ smoke house, seafood shop, adventure facility, sailing club, coast guard, tour operators, boat yard, RNLI Lifeboat, net mending facility and a BIM ice plant.
Fishing practice: 12 regular boats under 24m,
Mostly bottom trawls, 1 x beamer trawl, 2 x pure seines Landings: White fish – Hake, Haddock, Whiting
information sheet
Fishing port of Roscoff
Fishing port, commercial port and marina Presence of a fish market
Flotilla of 40 fishing vessels (mainly coastal fishing) 1500 deep-sea trawlers landing fish every year.
initiatives
initiative(s)
IFF Plastics
IFF Plastics in Co. Clare, Ireland worked together with BIM to investigate if retired fishing nets from ports could be recycled into a material to create products such as fence posts.
Read moreinitiative(s)
FILIPECH
The FILIPECH project has taken two main actions: the establishment of the producer responsability organisation dedicated to the management of end-of-life fishing gear, and the carrying out of new experiments in four ports to test and improve the collection and recovery of used HDPE trawls
Read more