On 3-4 March 2014 the Healthy Oceans – Productive Ecosystems (HOPE) Conference takes place in Brussels. It will bring together all those working with or in relation to the European marine environment and will provide them with the opportunity to discuss progress made over the past 5 years, the problems that still remain and the solutions for improved coherence and better marine governance.

Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is a major global issue causing damage to marine flora and fauna, as well as to the people and industries that depend on healthy seas. ALDFG constitutes one tenth of all marine litter, equivalent to 640,000 tonnes a year globally (UNEP/FAO 2009). Existing solutions do not address the cause of the issue nor come close to tackling the scale of the problem.  Most fishing nets are made from nylon, a valuable engineering-grade plastic which can be regenerated used in textile products such as carpets or clothing.

This is a great opportunity for Healthy Seas explain how the regeneration of fishing nets can support business models that offer a self-sustaining and scalable solution to the problem of waste fishing nets across Europe.

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The entire HOPE Conference will also be streamed live via the official website