Business Opportunities from Waste Fishing Gear

Local Innovation Systems: Waste and “End of Life” Fishing Gear

15th March 2022 3.00 – 4.00 PM GMT (4.00 – 5.00 PM CET)
Online: Zoom

Webinar Video Recording

Webinar organised by The Centre for Sustainable Design ®, UCA Business School within the Blue Circular Economy project

Goal

To present the findings of a new report on local innovation systems related to waste and “end of life” fishing gear.

Background

There is a growing recognition of the problems associated with waste and “end of life” fishing gear worldwide. In 2019, the European Union (EU) passed the Single-Use Plastics Directive that included ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR) legislation related to fishing gear that is due to be implemented in December 2024. The development of new infrastructure for EPR for fishing gear will require new circular economy infrastructure and solutions in coastal areas throughout Europe and this will present both challenges and opportunities.

In preparation for proposed EPR for fishing gear, two workshops were organised in Alesund, Norway (2019) and Galway, Ireland (2020) to bring together stakeholders from both business and fishing communities to discuss challenges and opportunities related to waste and “end of life” fishing gear.

The objectives of these events were to discuss

• Local innovation ecosystems, business and fishing networks in Alesund and Galway
• Interaction between stakeholders in both Alesund and Galway
• Business opportunities related to converting waste and “end of life” fishing into products and start-ups in Alesund
• BCE Lab (c): an innovation lab concept aimed at generating products from waste and “end of life” fishing gear

Structure

The webinar will present the key findings and lessons learnt from the 

• Two workshops in Alesund and Galway
• Two best practice case studies
  • Sotenäs Marine Recycling Centre, Sweden
  • Steveston Harbour, Canada

Programme

• Local innovations systems related to waste and “end of life” fishing gear
  Professor Martin Charter, Director, The Centre for Sustainable Design®, Business School for the Creative Industries, UCA
• Panel discussion
  Joel Baziuk, Associate Director, Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI)
  Peter Carlsson, Symbiosis Developer, Sotenäs
• Questions and Answers

Audience

Stakeholders (fishing/aquaculture gear producers/assemblers, recyclers, SMEs, local government, central government, business support, academia and NGOs), with an interest in waste and “end of life” fishing gear.

Blue Circular Economy

Blue Circular Economy is funded by Northern Periphery & Arctic (NPA) Programme (European Regional Development Fund) that is being organised between (2018-2022). Free mentoring on eco-innovation related to waste fishing gear is available for eligible companies with less than 250 employees based in the NPA region (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland west coast of Republic of Ireland, northern areas of Scotland, Northern Ireland (except for Belfast), Greenland and Faroe Islands). For more information on SME support for companies in the NPA region.

Registration

The event is free of charge but you need to register via rcarruthers@uca.ac.uk by sending your name, job title and organisation. On receipt, you will be sent instructions to join the webinar.

Further information

For more information contact:
Ros Carruthers
The Centre for Sustainable Design ®
Business School for the Creative Industries
UCA
+44 (0) 1252 892772