Recht, Fran

AFSC processed report ; 95-02

Between February 1991 and June 1992, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission (PSMFC) conducted a gill net recycling program supported by a $23,000 grant from the National Marine Fisheries Service and about $4,500 from DuPont's Fiber Division. The PSMFC worked with port officials, community-based coordinators, and members of the fishing industry to set up and promote the use of net recycling facilities in three areas in Washington and one in Alaska. As a result, fishermen brought 47,000 Ib of old nylon netting to the collection sites. Collected nets were transported to a recycler in Washington state to be baled, stored, and marketed. The nets were sold to a plastics broker and recycled into bicycle seats in Taiwan. As the first net recycling effort conducted in the United States, the program has taught some important lessons on community collection and shipment logistics and has shown that nylon net collection and recycling can be made economically viable and self-sustaining in the Pacific region. Higher prices and contracts are now being offered by recycling brokers who want the nets on an on-going basis. Accordingly giII net collection programs are continuing and expanding in Alaska (with and without grant support), and the feasibility of a collection effort in the Columbia River area is currently being studied. These recycling efforts wiII now expand to also collect seine net which is made from a different type of nyIon. Coverage of net recycling efforts in trade journals such as Plastics News has elicited interest from plastics recyclers in the southeastern United States who may contact fishing groups regarding net collection in that area. This report describes the collection and promotion efforts in Bellingham, Seattle, and Anacortes, Washington, and in Cordova, Alaska. It discusses shipping, transportation, and marketing considerations. It then provides a list of questions that will help others analyze the merits and feasibility of setting up a similar program in their region and how to anticipate and avoid problems. The marine debris and net recycling work of the Commission was supported by the National Marine Fisheries Service through Saltonstall-Kennedy (S-K) grant funds. S-K funds, generated by taxes placed on foreign fishing-related products, are dedicated to projects that assist America's commercial fishing industry and meet industry-established priorities.

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)