The issue of ocean pollution by plastic waste also concerns the world of fishing.
Seafarers can also lose their equipment (nets, pots, lines, etc.) at sea. With the consequences that we now know on flora and fauna and ultimately on the food chain.
This is why the company Seabird, based in Larmor-Plage, near Lorient (Morbihan), specializing in biobased and biodegradable plastics, responded to a European call for projects.
Objective: to develop 100% biodegradable and compostable nets.
Read also On the beaches of Finistère, the invasion of microplastics
“Even if today, fishing nets are systematically brought back to the quayside to be sorted and partly recycled, they can take from 400 years to 1,000 years before completely degrading in a marine environment”, explains Marie Chauvel, President of this Morbihan company which today employs five people.
“Thanks to our formulation of compostable and biodegradable bioplastics, we are targeting small nets that could already tear after a year and a half and achieve complete degradation after five years.
"
Pioneer in Europe
In partnership with the natural marine park of Picardy estuaries and the Opal Sea, a fisherman from Boulogne-sur-Mer is currently testing these new generation nets, tests which will continue until 2022. The Marine Park d'Iroise (Finistère), France's leading marine park, is also interested in this project, which is, for the moment, a pioneer in Europe, according to the French Biodiversity Office, even if there are competitors.
VIDEO.
Giant tide of plastics and turtle corpses in Bangladesh
Seabird has also approached Le Drezen, based in Guilvinec, in the Bigouden country (Finistère).
Having become the market leader in the manufacture of French nets and fishing gear, this company, founded in 1929, also thinks of the future.