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In these reports, we share our research-based recommendations for sustainable tuna fisheries management, covering observer programs, transshipment, and many other key topics.

Best practices reports are authored by our fisheries policy experts and/or fisheries scientists. See also our companion “best practices snapshots” series and our scientific reports.

ISSF 2019-13: Towards Biodegradable FADs: Evaluating the Lifetime of Biodegradable Ropes in Controlled Conditions

Date Added: December 17, 2019
Authors: Dr. Gala Moreno, M. Shiham Adam, Dr. Victor Restrepo
Downloaded: 434 times
Tags: Biodegradable FADs, Ecosystem, FADs, Purse Seine
Language: English
Report Type: Technical Report

Description

This report summarizes the results of a project in the Maldivian waters to test the lifetime and robustness of biodegradable ropes for use in Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). Three types of biodegradable ropes were evaluated for robustness and other characteristics over one year at sea: (i) twisted 100 % cotton rope; (ii) twisted 50% cotton and 50% sisal rope; and (iii) cotton, sisal and linen rope with loops. The authors discuss those results as well as recommendations for the successful use of biodegradable materials in FADs.