SIST EN 17988-4:2025

SLOVENSKI STANDARD
01-februar-2025
Krožna zasnova ribolovnega orodja in opreme za akvakulturo - 4. del: Okoljske in
krožne zahteve ter smernice
Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment - Part 4: Environmental and
circularity requirements and guidelines
Kreislaufwirtschaft von Fischfanggeräten und Aquakulturausrüstungen - Teil 4: Umwelt-
und Kreislaufanforderungen und Leitlinien
Circularité et recyclabilité des engins de pêche et des équipements d’aquaculture -
Partie 4 : Exigences et lignes directrices en matière d’environnement et de circularité
Ta slovenski standard je istoveten z: EN 17988-4:2024
ICS:
13.020.20 Okoljska ekonomija. Environmental economics.
Trajnostnost Sustainability
65.150 Ribolov in ribogojstvo Fishing and fish breeding
2003-01.Slovenski inštitut za standardizacijo. Razmnoževanje celote ali delov tega standarda ni dovoljeno.

EN 17988-4
EUROPEAN STANDARD
NORME EUROPÉENNE
November 2024
EUROPÄISCHE NORM
ICS 13.020.20; 65.150
English Version
Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment
- Part 4: Environmental and circularity requirements and
guidelines
Circularité et recyclabilité des engins de pêche et des Kreislaufdesign von Fischfanggeräten und
équipements d'aquaculture - Partie 4 : Exigences et Aquakulturausrüstungen - Teil 4: Umwelt- und
lignes directrices en matière d'environnement et de Kreislaufanforderungen und Leitfaden
circularité
This European Standard was approved by CEN on 30 September 2024.

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. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references
concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN
member.
This European Standard exists 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.
EUROPEAN COMMITTEE FOR STANDARDIZATION
COMITÉ EUROPÉEN DE NORMALISATION

EUROPÄISCHES KOMITEE FÜR NORMUNG

CEN-CENELEC Management Centre: Rue de la Science 23, B-1040 Brussels
© 2024 CEN All rights of exploitation in any form and by any means reserved Ref. No. EN 17988-4:2024 E
worldwide for CEN national Members.

Contents Page
European foreword . 3
Introduction . 4
1 Scope . 6
2 Normative references . 6
3 Terms and definitions. 7
4 Principles . 7
4.1 General . 7
Figure 1 — Stages in product life, linear paradigm . 7
Figure 2 — Stages in product life, circular paradigm . 8
4.2 Modular design using standardized components . 9
4.3 User requirements and circularity needs. 9
5 Design criteria throughout the different steps in the life cycle . 10
5.1 Selection/sourcing of materials, components, parts or products . 10
5.2 Design for manufacture/assembly. 17
5.3 Design of placement, installation and deployment of the fishing gear or aquaculture
equipment . 19
5.4 Design for use and maintenance . 19
5.5 Design for end-of-use stage. 20
Bibliography . 21

European foreword
This document (EN 17988-4:2024) 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 European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an
identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by May 2025, and conflicting national standards shall
be withdrawn at the latest by May 2025.
Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject
of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.
This document has been prepared under a standardization request addressed to CEN by the
European Commission (M/574). The Standing Committee of the EFTA States subsequently approves
these requests for its Member States.
This document is part of the EN 17988 series.
The EN 17988 series consists of the following parts, under the general title Circular design of fishing
gear and aquaculture equipment:
— Part 1: General requirements and guidelines
— Part 2: User manuals and labelling
— Part 3: Technical requirements and guidelines
— Part 4: Environmental and circularity requirements and guidelines
— Part 5: Circular business models
— Part 6: Requirements and guidelines for digitalization of information of components of fishing
gear and aquaculture equipment
Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards
body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.
According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the
following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: 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 the United Kingdom.

Introduction
As part of the European Green Deal, launched in 2019, the European Commission introduced
measures to move to a climate neutral and circular economy, together with a digital transition. One
of the targets in the transition to a circular economy was to reduce the amount of waste released into
the environment by decreasing the amount of waste generated, increasing the amount of waste
collected and re-introducing the materials regenerated from waste into the production of new
products.
Specifically, the accumulation of plastics in marine and other aquatic environments were addressed
in two directives:
— The revised Port Reception Facilities (PRF) Directive [1] encourages fishers and aquaculturists
to bring not only their own end-of-use gear but also bring ashore abandoned, lost or otherwise
discarded (ALD) fishing gear and aquaculture equipment, thus encouraging waste to be carried
back to port.
— The Single Use Plastics (SUP) Directive [2], which lays down rules concerning different plastic
products, including fishing gear and aquaculture equipment containing plastics, and sets
requirements to the Member States to establish Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)
schemes. Concerning fishing gear, it also contains rules on minimum national annual collection
rates, together with reporting on fishing gear placed on the market and waste fishing gear
collected in ports.
In 2021, the standardization request M/574 on the circular design of fishing gear [3] was passed by
the European Commission and the parliament and accepted by CEN, which forms the basis for this
series of documents (EN 17988 series). While the term ‘fishing gear’ is used predominantly in the
SUP Directive and M/574, both documents encompass aquaculture equipment.
The purpose of this series of documents is to provide stakeholders with requirements,
recommendations and guidelines to address the different aspects of circular design of fishing gear
and aquaculture equipment containing plastics, encourage preparing for reuse and facilitate
recyclability at end-of-use. These requirements are intended to be applied from the design phase
across the entire life cycle of the fishing gear and aquaculture equipment. This includes but is not
limited to: manufacturing, use, maintenance, repair, collection, sorting, preparation for recycling,
reuse, remanufacture, disposal, uptake of recycled content and recycling.
Although this document is written for fishing gear and aquaculture equipment containing plastics,
the requirements, recommendations and guidelines are also applicable to other materials.
This series of documents does not address other important design criteria such as fishing or farming
efficiency. When implementing the requirements, recommendations and guidelines provided in
these documents, balanced trade-offs between all relevant criteria need to be taken into account.
This series of documents aims to contribute to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs) [4]:
— 9 Industry, innovation, and infrastructure,
— 12 Responsible consumption and production,
— 14 Life below water, in particular target 14.1 By 2025, prevent and significantly reduce marine
pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities, including marine debris and
nutrient pollution.
For a full outline of the parts of the standard, and how the parts relate to each other, see part 1.
Part 4 addresses the environmental and circularity requirements and guidelines together, as these
two are interrelated and interdependent.
A circular economy focusses on environmental performance improvements with the help of resource
cycles. The circular economy is a sustainable ecosystem which focusses on preventing and reducing
waste, keeping the value retention of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment at its highest level,
while preventing and reducing its environmental impacts throughout its life cycle. It contributes to a
more sustainable world, but not all sustainability initiatives contribute to circularity.
The circular economy establishes sustainable principles for fishing gear and aquaculture equipment
and sets a basis for a common approach to the eco-modulation of EPR fees.
The aim of the document is to enable the reader to more efficiently use materials and resources and
reduce the amount of plastics lost as waste while delivering the best environmental outcome.
Note to the reader on normative language: In this document, the following verbal forms are used in
accordance with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations Part 3, Clause 7:
— “shall” indicates a requirement;
— “should” indicates a recommendation;
— “may” indicates a permission;
— “can” indicates a possibility or a capability;
— “must” indicates an external constraint.
1 Scope
This document specifies the environmental and circularity requirements for the components of
fishing gear and aquaculture equipment which contain plastics. It establishes sustainability
principles that minimize the negative impact of the plastic components of fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment on the environment, taking into account the impact on its performance
(e.g. catchability or lifespan). The circular and environmental design of fishing gear and aquaculture
equipment focuses on:
— the selection and sourcing of materials and components;
— manufacture and assembly;
— placement, installation, and deployment of the fishing gear and aquaculture equipment;
— use and maintenance repair; and
— the end-of-use stage.
Transport, storage and distribution are taken into account at the different stages, where applicable.
This document excludes design aspects related to fishing or aquaculture techniques or management.
2 Normative references
The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content
constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For
undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments)
applies.
EN 17988-1, Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment — General requirements and
guidelines
EN 17988-2, Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment — User manuals and labelling
EN 17988-3, Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment — Technical requirements and
guidelines
EN IEC 62430, Environmentally conscious design (ECD) — Principles, requirements and guidance
CEN/TS 18101, Circular design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment - Terms and definitions
3 Terms and definitions
For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in CEN/TS 18101 apply.
ISO and IEC maintain terminological databases for use in standardization at the following addresses:
— ISO Online browsing platform: available at http://www.iso.org/obp
— IEC Electropedia: available at http://www.electropedia.org/
4 Principles
4.1 General
This document provides the reader with guidelines, recommendations and requirements for
changing from a linear product life economy (Figure 1) to a circular one (Figure 2) focusing on
environmental and circular design but also respecting the technical requirements for fishing gear
and aquaculture equipment according to EN 17988-3 and general principles described in
EN IEC 62430.
NOTE Elements in Figure 1 are differently organized than in EN IEC 62430:2019, Figure B.1.
Figure 1 — Stages in product life, linear paradigm
Figure 2 — Stages in product life, circular paradigm
This document will focus on the principles for retaining fishing gear and aquaculture equipment or
parts thereof in the circular economy for as many cycles as feasible, together with minimizing the
negative impact of the plastic components on the environment. It will provide design criteria for
achieving this goal while balancing it with the impact on its performance (e.g. catchability or
lifespan); it can be expected that there are trade-offs between the different criteria which will need
to be evaluated for their impact on the product.
— The characteristics of materials, parts and components shall be preserved as much as possible
(durability, longevity).
— Materials and parts shall be collected when damaged to be repaired and prepared for reuse, and
at their end-of-use.
— Transport, weight and packaging dimensions (including stack ability) of parts, kits, etc. shall be
taken into account.
— EPR schemes shall be taken into account where available.
The technical requirements for the specific type, size and use of the fishing gear and/or aquaculture
equipment shall be considered, as further detailed in EN 17988-3.
Issues like traceability and materials identification (e.g. via a product circularity data sheet) are
important but will not be covered in detail in this document. Here the reader is referred to
EN 17988-2.
Concerning fishing gear, the issue of selectivity towards aquatic species and the size (which is linked
to the age) for a given species is very important. For one, unwanted species add unnecessary and
useless weight to the catch. For another, there are national and regional regulations concerning
unwanted catch, as well as forbidding catching of protected species or younger fish. While this is an
important environmental as well as commercial issue, it is not a focus in this document and is
addressed by applicable legislation.
4.2 Modular design using standardized components
The design of fishing gear and aquaculture equipment shall be modular to enable the use
standardized parts and/or components. This allows the assembly of the product in a way that (a) the
individual parts and/or components can be exchanged and that (b) the product can be dismantled
and/or disassembled into the individual components again.
As a consequence, modular design and the use of standardized parts and/or components allow for
more efficient manufacture and assembly (clause 5.2), repair, refurbishing and replacing of
components (clause 5.4) as well as dismantling and/or disassembly and reuse of components
(clause 5.5).
4.3 User requirements and circularity needs
User requirements and needs will depend on the specific intended use of the fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment, the environment and/or vessel it will be used in/on and the personal
preferences of the individual fisher/aquaculturist or company.
As a result, the current products in the fishing gear and aquaculture equipment sector show a very
high degree of diversification. This seems to be in contradiction to the modular concept described in
clause 4.2 but this does not necessarily have to be the case. Correct modular design can allow for a
high degree of diversification in final product design.
To ensure that the user requirements are taken into account during the design phase of the different
parts and components of the fishing gear or aquaculture equipment, it shall be ensured that the part
and component manufacturers receive the correct information from the users and also that the users
receive up to date information on the fishing gear or aquaculture equipment materials, parts and
components and their performance. Usually, this information flow passes via the manufacturers or
importers of the completed fishing gear or aquaculture equipment, and it shall therefore be ensured
that there is no information lost or altered when passed on.
When designing the fishing gear or aquaculture equipment the use location as well as the limits of
the use parameters will need to be taken into account. Care shall be taken to neither under nor over
design the fishing gear or aquaculture equipment. Under designing will result in premature failure
while over designing will result in excessive use of materials (clause 5.1.2).
Fishing gear and aquaculture equipment will be used in very diverse aquatic environments, with
specific combinations of parameters including: water temperature, pressure and salinity, weather
(atmospheric conditions) and the specific location (high sea, coastal area etc.). With exception of the
specific location, these conditions can be subject to variations in time, and it will be important to
know the limits between which these variations occur. Further information on the technical
requirements and design guidelines can be found in EN 17988-3.
5 Design criteria throughout the different steps in the life cycle
5.1 Selection/sourcing of materials, components, parts or products
5.1.1 General
When sourcing materials (including additives used for processing and/or functionalisation of the
materials), components, parts or products, the following general considerations shall be taken into
account:
— consider the whole lifecycle of the material, from extraction or sourcing to end-of-life,
considering the environmental, social and economic costs and benefits (EN IEC 62430);
— any materials, components, parts or products needs to be fit for purpose;
— use existing products before making or buying new;
— when buying new products, prioritise those made with the highest possible content from recycled
materials before those made from virgin materials only;
— consider searching for opportunities in different markets, not limiting to the fishing gear and
aquaculture equipment market, to enable reuse or repurposing;
— consider materials, components, parts or products that are guaranteed to have an as long as
possible use stage, either in their primary use sector (fishing/aquaculture) or in another value
network.
In addition, the following design criteria shall be used to source materials, components, parts or
products for circular fishing gear and aquaculture equipment having a lower environmental impact:
— optimize weight, dimensions and stack ability of the product;
— increase use of circular, recyclable, recycled, used, refurbished and/or renewable materials and
components to replace/reduce virgin materials;
— when using combinations or mixtures of materials, chose combinations which are compatible in
the recycling stream; this is also applicable to additives;
— minimize the content and release of substances of concern (SoC) [5]; replace by less concerning
alternatives where possible;
— minimize loss of materials, components, parts or products into the environment.
When designing fishing gear and aquaculture equipment to prevent ghost fishing the following shall
be considered:
— prioritize designs that avoid losses of fishing gear materials, components and parts (e.g. design
without dolly ropes), in line with EU fisheries legislation and policies;
— prioritize design for recovery of fishing gear materials, components and parts that could be lost
into the environment (e.g. using buoyancy devices).
When these two design options are not feasible, the use of materials can be considered which
ultimately biodegrade and disintegrate in estuarine, marine water and sediments, provided that test
methods are used which represent the worst environmental conditions (e.g. low temperature, low
oxygen or anoxic conditions), use the shortest timeframe preventing entanglement, injury or
ingestion risks for marine fauna, individual biodegradation tests are performed on each organic
constituent as well as on the final product and breakdown of products and/or intermediates
(including coatings and finishes), strict pass criteria on the control of constituents are met (e.g. no
regulated metals, chemicals nor other SoCs intentionally added), tests confirm human non-toxicity
and non-ecotoxicity (including no release of micro- or nanoplastics), tests consider impacts of fouling
by micro- and macro-organisms.
Moreover, these materials shall not impede recycling of fishing gear materials and aquaculture
equipment, components or parts when collected.
NOTE 1 There are currently few test methods and certification schemes for assessing biodegradability in an
aquatic environment, which do not reflect the above criteria. Therefore, it is not yet clear which materials are
suitable for ultimate biodegradation and disintegration in all the relevant environmental compartments where
fishing gear and aquaculture equipment materials, components or parts can get lost (i.e. tests in estuarine,
water and sediments). Since there is a lot of ongoing research, the future availability of biodegradable materials
cannot be excluded, and it is therefore important to add this option to this document. Once the prevention and
recovery solutions have been exhausted, ultimate biodegradation, non-toxicity, non-ecotoxicity, non-risks for
fauna are proven by meaningful studies under worst case conditions, in line with the precautionary principle.
It is important that the product performance shall be retained. Materials properties shall be balanced
with circularity and environmental aspects, including on the one hand product properties such as
weight and volume and on the other hand the durability of the materials, parts or components used.
Increasing the lifetime of a product can outweigh other criteria like recyclability. More details can be
found in EN 17988-3.
The sourcing of materials for coatings, finishes and other surface treatments shall be included in the
selection and design considerations.
NOTE 2 Additional information is available in ISO 14009 [6] and ISO 59014 [7].
5.1.2 Optimize weight and volume of the product and its packaging
The necessary values for strength, weight and durability shall be evaluated considering:
— over-designing can result in a higher weight, volume and/or general material use;
— correct design can reduce the weight, volume and/or general material use for any component,
part or product.
A risk assessment can be necessary to evaluate how much strength, weight and durability is needed
to ensure the required reliability of a component, part or product. Maximizing the specific strength
of the component, part or product allows for minimizing its weight while ensuring that the required
strength and durability are not compromised.
The product packaging criteria shall be considered, including at least:
— supply in bigger quantities reducing the packing units;
— compact the product as much as possible to reduce the volume;
— optimize packaging towards improved stack ability;
— eliminate the excessive use of protective packaging by taking into consideration the level of
protection the respective product requires;
— consider implementing reusable packaging, e.g. transport containers which can be reused/taken
back;
— increase use of reusable packaging and incorporation of recycled materials in packaging. Avoid
single use packaging where possible;
— evaluate whether adapting the package to its content or whether adapting the content to the
package gives the better result with respect to protection during transport vs. circular and
environmental criteria.
NOTE 1 Weight and volume will play a major role for logistics but less during the use phase for aquaculture
equipment, while for fishing gear weight and volume also play a major role during the use phase. One important
consideration here is fuel efficiency.
NOTE 2 Efforts can be reported in a transparent way, for example in a taxonomy report.
5.1.3 Increase incorporation of used/refurbished components, parts and products
As stated in clause 5.1.1., used and/or refurbished components, parts and products shall be fit for
purpose.
Modular and standardized design of components, parts and products shall be considered to increase
the opportunities for later reuse and refurbishing, as well as exchanging components, parts and
products (see also clause 5.4) by:
— designing fishing gear and aquacult
...