Panaji: Approximately 40 to 50 tonnes of plastic waste is generated every month along Goa’s coast by discarded fishing nets alone, estimated The Energy and Resources Institute or Teri. As part of a year-long project funded by the European Union-Resource Efficiency Initiative (EU-REI), Teri and German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ-India) are set to identify an industry partner who will permanently enable collection, recycling and scientific processing of the discarded fishing net waste.
The year-long project by Teri, along with key stakeholders such as the state fisheries department and the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), is set to end in November 2023, with a permanent system in place to recycle unwanted fishing nets in Goa.
“The project began last year with a pilot where we interacted with small remote fishing villages along the Siridao, Cacra, Odxel belt in North Goa and Talpona in South Goa. We found that no one was buying the discarded fishing nets, especially from smaller fishing villages because of their remote location and lesser quantities. The fishermen also need to discard unwanted nets because they live in small houses and lack space to store the nets,” said Teri fellow Ashwini Pai Panandiker.
While the nets were mostly burnt, some were also thrown back into the sea. Either ways the environment is harmed from the air pollution caused by burning of the plastic fishing nets or through the ghost nets found in the deep oceans that disintegrate into microplastics, bioaccumulate and enter the food chain, Panandiker said.
“As a first step, to provide additional livelihood to fisher folks, we designed the artefacts using discarded nets and gave hands-on training to fishermen and self-help groups. Further, to enhance mass recycling, we thought there should be an ecosystem that facilitates collection mechanism that can not only help the environment but also become a viable source of income for the fishermen,” she said, adding that the aim of the project is to create an ecosystem for the scrap dealer to buy the fishing net and sell it through a tie-up with an industry.
“Scrap dealers can give the fisherfolk Rs 40 to Rs 60 a kilo. We are in the process of identifying an industry which can take the fishing nets and process them. Goa has five fish landing sites which are small jetties and fishing activity is at a larger scale. From here, scrap dealers were already collecting the nets. However, in smaller fishing villages, where quantity is less, the collection wasn’t taken. So we are trying to join the dots. Now, once the industry comes on board we will be closing the loop,” she said.
The year-long project by Teri, along with key stakeholders such as the state fisheries department and the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB), is set to end in November 2023, with a permanent system in place to recycle unwanted fishing nets in Goa.
“The project began last year with a pilot where we interacted with small remote fishing villages along the Siridao, Cacra, Odxel belt in North Goa and Talpona in South Goa. We found that no one was buying the discarded fishing nets, especially from smaller fishing villages because of their remote location and lesser quantities. The fishermen also need to discard unwanted nets because they live in small houses and lack space to store the nets,” said Teri fellow Ashwini Pai Panandiker.
While the nets were mostly burnt, some were also thrown back into the sea. Either ways the environment is harmed from the air pollution caused by burning of the plastic fishing nets or through the ghost nets found in the deep oceans that disintegrate into microplastics, bioaccumulate and enter the food chain, Panandiker said.
“As a first step, to provide additional livelihood to fisher folks, we designed the artefacts using discarded nets and gave hands-on training to fishermen and self-help groups. Further, to enhance mass recycling, we thought there should be an ecosystem that facilitates collection mechanism that can not only help the environment but also become a viable source of income for the fishermen,” she said, adding that the aim of the project is to create an ecosystem for the scrap dealer to buy the fishing net and sell it through a tie-up with an industry.
“Scrap dealers can give the fisherfolk Rs 40 to Rs 60 a kilo. We are in the process of identifying an industry which can take the fishing nets and process them. Goa has five fish landing sites which are small jetties and fishing activity is at a larger scale. From here, scrap dealers were already collecting the nets. However, in smaller fishing villages, where quantity is less, the collection wasn’t taken. So we are trying to join the dots. Now, once the industry comes on board we will be closing the loop,” she said.
