📋 Tender Overview
Contract awarded for Untangling our seas (unsea) – a holistic solution approach to avoid the burden on the marine environment from fishing gear lot-0001, title: untangling our seas (unsea) – a holistic solution approach to prevent the burden of the marine environment with fishing gear, description: despite a growing awareness of the consequences of plastic pollution for the marine environment, there remains a persistent threat from aldfg, which is newly introduced into the marine environment or has been partially present there for decades. the goal of unsea is therefore to systematically prevent further entry of aldfg into the north and baltic seas, reduce the negative ecological and socio-economic impacts, and identify and recover legacy waste, especially in ecologically sensitive areas. both commercial, part-time, and recreational fishing in the north and baltic seas are to be addressed. excluded from the project scope are aqua- and mariculture and inland fishing. existing guidelines and agreements of relevant national and international legal frameworks are currently still fragmented, without financial backing, and are partially subject to various reasons for disposal. unsea is intended to bring together the various sub-aspects in a coherent action framework, focusing on the implementation of cost-efficient and operational measures. it is essential to rethink the handling of fishing gear waste holistically, anchor principles of circular economy in the management of fishing gear, and address specific findings such as dolly ropes (protective threads on bottom trawl nets) and net parts from repair work that are often found in the marine environment. the project is to provide the necessary start-up financing over its duration and simultaneously create long-term structures with clear responsibilities for sustainability through federal and state governments. for the first time, a cross-sectoral mechanism is to be established and implemented, which also includes knowledge and information exchange. the project can build on existing legal frameworks, recommendations from research and politics, preliminary work within the framework of measures and action plans, and voluntary industry initiatives. in particular, the round table on marine litter (rtm, www.muell-im-meer.de), established in 2016 and coordinated by the federal environment agency and the state of lower saxony, has already made extensive conceptual preliminary work that can be used as a basis for unsea. insights into the dimensions of the problem have been gained through this, and suitable methods as well as existing and missing elements in the chain from searching to the most environmentally friendly recovery of aldfg have been identified. furthermore, the results and recommendations of two pilot projects for the recovery of lost fishing gear in mecklenburg-vorpommern (mv) and schleswig-holstein (sh) are to be considered. while the project in mv has already been completed (https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/publikationen-pdf/deutschland/wwf-abschlussbericht-landesprojekt-verlorene-fischereigeraete.pdf), the publication of the final report of the sh project is expected in august 2026, with planned follow-up activities for mapping and recovering fishing gear waste. the work under unsea is to be closely coordinated with these activities to avoid duplication of efforts. estimated value excluding vat: 8391537.08 eur.Untangling our seas (unsea) – a holistic solution approach to avoid the burden on the marine environment from fishing gear
