EN 17988-3:2024

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
oSIST prEN 17988-3:2023
01-september-2023
Krožna zasnova ribolovnega orodja in opreme za ribogojstvo - 3. del: Tehnične
zahteve
Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment - Part 3: Technical
requirements
Kreislaufwirtschaft von Fischfanggeräten und Aquakulturausrüstungen - Teil 3:
Technische Anforderungen
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: prEN 17988-3
ICS:
13.020.20 Okoljska ekonomija. Environmental economics.
Trajnostnost Sustainability
65.150 Ribolov in ribogojstvo Fishing and fish breeding
oSIST prEN 17988-3:2023 en,fr,de
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

oSIST prEN 17988-3:2023
oSIST prEN 17988-3:2023
DRAFT
EUROPEAN STANDARD
prEN 17988-3
NORME EUROPÉENNE
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
July 2023
ICS
English Version
Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment
- Part 3: Technical requirements
Technische Anforderungen an kreislauforientiertes
Design von Fischfanggeräten
This draft European Standard is submitted to CEN members for enquiry. It has been drawn up by the Technical Committee
CEN/TC 466.
If this draft becomes a European Standard, CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations
which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration.

This draft European Standard was established by CEN in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other
language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC
Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and
United Kingdom.
Recipients of this draft are invited to submit, with their comments, notification of any relevant patent rights of which they are
aware and to provide supporting documentation.

Warning : This document is not a European Standard. It is distributed for review and comments. It is subject to change without
notice and shall not be referred to as a European Standard.

EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2023 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. prEN 17988-3:2023 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

oSIST prEN 17988-3:2023
prEN 17988-3:2023 (E)
Contents Page
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions . 6
4 Gear performance . 6
5 Innovation . 8
6 Logistics . 9
7 Using materials . 9
7.1 Mixed materials . 9
7.2 Multi-material . 9
Bibliography . 11

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European Foreword
This document (prEN 17988-3:2023) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 466
“Circularity and recyclability of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment”, the secretariat of which is
held by NEN.
This document is currently submitted to the CEN Enquiry.
This document is part of a series of standards.
EN 17988 consists of the following parts, under the general title Circular design of fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment:
— Part 1: General requirements and guidance
— Part 2: User manual and labelling
— Part 3: Technical requirements
— Part 4: Environmental and circularity requirements and guidelines
— Part 5: Circular business model
— Part 6: Digitalization of gear and components
This document has been prepared under a mandate given to CEN by the European Commission
(Standardization request M/574), and supports EU Directive(s).
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Introduction
Plastics are synthetic organic polymers that can be easily moulded into different shapes and
products for a large variety of uses. Invented only 110 years ago, plastics are now the most widely
used man-made material and have become omnipresent in every aspect of our lives. From medical
supplies and water bottles to food packaging, clothing, and construction materials, every person
now disposes an average of 52 kg of plastic waste every year (Jambeck et al. 2015). Geologists are
now considering a plastic horizon in the world’s soils and sediments as one of the key indicators
marking the current geological epoch, the Anthropocene (Waters et al. 2016).
Concerns about plastic release into the environment were at first non-existent. The material was
seen as benign, due to its inertness and perceived lack of toxicity. As a result, an estimated sum total
of 5 billion tonnes of plastic has been discarded into landfills and the environment since 1950
(Geyer et al. 2017). This led to increasing concerns about pollution, particularly in the oceans, with
some actions by governments to stem the growing tide of plastic debris. The International
Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL) was signed in 1973, although a
complete ban on the disposal of plastics at sea was not enacted until the end of 1988 (IMO, 1988).
At the same time, waste disposal practices and recycling capacities improved, particularly in highly
industrialized countries, leading to better waste management and lower release of plastic waste
into the environment.
Plastic pollution has now become widely recognized as a major global environmental burden
(GESAMP, 2016; Rochman et al. 2013) particularly in the oceans where the biophysical breakdown
of plastics is prolonged (Derraik 2002; Wilcox et al. 2015), effects on wildlife are severe (Kaiser
2010, GESAMP, 2016) and options for removal are very limited (Thompson et al. 2004; Jambeck et
al. 2015).
There has been a shift in strategy within the EU regarding plastics, with the development of
initiatives, associated with further development of circular economy initiatives within the EU, with
a ‘plastics circular economy’. This is a sustainable model where plastics remain in circulation
longer, and are reused and recycled at the end of their life span. In support of this, the European
Parliament and Council adopted two Directives in 2019 that aimed to make a significant
contribution to the reduction of marine litter from sea-based sources.
One such directive is the revised Port Reception Facilities (PRF) Directive (PRF, 2022). Up until
now, ports have been able to charge fishers for bringing retrieved abandoned, lost or otherwise
discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) ashore over and above their normal fee. The revised PFR Directive
introduces indirect fee and consequently removes this disincentive.
Second is the Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive, which addresses 10 most common single use
plastic items found on European beaches as well as end-of-life fishing gear and ALDFG. Within this
Directive producers of fishing gear containing plastic will have to take on the responsibility (and
costs) for separate collection, transport, treatment and awareness raising measures of fishing gear.
This has been brought in to reduce port costs for fishers, particularly in small fishing ports, and
potentially accelerate the development of a dedicated waste stream for fishing gear waste.
In support of the PRF and SUP Directives, there are several challenges that need to be examined.
The majority of ropes and netting producers for the fishing industry are dominated by Small and
Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), with few large producers of fishing gear. In addition, there are
substantial logistic issues across the entire value chain of fishing gear; from collection and retrieval
at sea by fishers (or other groups), to bringing and unloading in ports, collecting in ports,
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transporting to recycling facilities, performing mechanical and chemical recycling, and producing
new products from recycled fishing gear. To date, all of the available work that has examined the
issues surrounding logistics have focused solely on end-of -life fishing gears - there are no
successful efforts globally to recycle ALDFG, with the vast majority of material incinerated or
dumped in landfills (Gilman et al., 2016). Lastly, there are substantial problems with the current
design of fishing gear in terms of environmental impact at end-of-life.
At present, six raw polymer types are utilized to manufacture the majority of nets within Europe:
Polyamide (PA), Polyester (PES), Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP), Aramid, and High-density
polyethylene (HDPE). However, within the current design of fishing nets within Europe, there is up
to 700 different combinations of these polymers and other materials. Such mixing of different raw
materials, although potentially important for the use of the fishing gear, makes it nearly impossible
to recycle as a single unit. Furthermore, there is a range of other factors that reduce the likelihood
of fishing gear being recycled, including the use of materials within nets that are toxic or
unrecyclable (i.e. lead shot in sink lines), the likelihood that collected gear may have been
contaminated (i.e. sand, salt) or other man-made material mixed. Additionally, the small number of
recyclers within Europe and the need to provide to these recyclers cleaned and sorted gears, as well
as the lack of agreed standards for circular design of fishing gear further weaken the prospects for
gear recycling.
The development of this document with technical requirements forms part of a wider array of work
undertaken by the EU in the development of the Circular Economy, and supports the recent EU
Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy. This is the first EU -wide policy framework adopting a
material-specific lifecycle approach to integrate circular design, use, re-use and recycling activities
into plastics value chains. The strategy sets out a clear vision with quantified objectives at EU level,
so that amongst other things, by 2030 all plastic packaging placed on the EU market is reusable or
recyclable.
The general requirements and guidance for utilizing these set of standards is provided in Part 1.
The description and requirements for designing a user manual, and well as requirements for
labelling of gear and components is provided in Part 2.
The technical requirements, specific to the product, are provided in Part 3. This standard covers
aspects of durability, material strength inherent in redesign, the utility of gear and maintenance in
sustaining utility following redesign, as well as innovation in preventative maintenance, repair,
remanufacturing, ability to refurbish, recycling at ‘end-of-life’ and upgrading.
The environmental and circularity requirements for the components of fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment which contain plastics is provided in Part 4.
Development of circular business models to support the circular design of fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment is provided in Part 5.
Traceability of fishing gear components throughout their life cycle is covered in part 6.
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1 Scope
This document specifies the technical requirements for the components of fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment (hereafter termed 'gear') which contain plastics. It will establish the
material principles and processes that enhance the circularity and recycling of the plastic
components of gear and the materials comprising the components of the gear, taking into account
the impact of such requirements on gear utility. The technical requirements for the design of gear
focuses on:
— Development and selection of materials and components;
— Reduction in the use of virgin plastics;
— Manufacture/assembly/disassembly;
— Use, maintenance, repair, re-manufacturing and refurbishing;
— Storage, transport; and
— End-of-life including recycling and upcycling.
Excluded from this document are design aspects related to enhancement of the capture of fisheries.
This is unless such design reduces the utility of the gear for capture fishing or aquaculture
techniques or management.
2 Normative references
There are no normative references in this document.
3 Terms and definitions
No terms and definitions are listed in this document.
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
4 Gear performance
W
...