NETTAG+ aims to provide a portfolio of three suitable innovative smart and sustainable solutions to address the negative impacts of fishing gears on marine life and habitats, in line with the second issue of the call “Environmental impacts of fishing gears”. NETTAG+ will be based on synergistic activities between the fisheries industry, scientists and NGOs to develop three solutions to PREVENT, AVOID and MITIGATE the harmful impacts of fishing gears. We will PREVENT marine litter derived from fisheries activities, AVOID loss of fishing gears, and MITIGATE harmful impact by removing existing ALDFG. These three solutions will jointly contribute to reduce ALDFG and marine pollution, namely by: reducing the introduction of hazardous chemicals and microplastics originated from ALDFG; reducing ghost fishing, bycatch and entanglements of sensitive or endangered species on ALDFG; and improving mapping, tracking and recovery technologies to retrieve ALDFG. NETTAG+ aims to upgrade and upscale the integrative preventive approach started in the previous NetTag project, and replicate it in Mediterranean regions. The three solutions will be developed to maturity (TRL 7-8) by the end of the project, and will be tested, validated and demonstrated in real conditions in Atlantic and Mediterranean countries, namely Portugal (PT), United Kingdom (UK), Spain (SP), Italy (IT), Croatia (HR) and Malta (MT). NETTAG+ ambition is to change the paradigm of the fisheries industry, aspiring to transform the societal perspectives about the role of fishers as Guardians and Cleaners of the Ocean. NETTAG+ will empower the sector to take active actions to address marine pollution, promoting their role as key-actors to tackle marine pollution, and will will provide the fisheries industry with three smart and environmentally-friendly solutions to reduce ALDFG and prevent the environmental impacts of fishing gears.

The excellence hub EXCEL4MED is an initiative to strengthen Mediterranean innovation excellence in innovation ecosystems focusing on the production of nutritious food products and the valorization of food industrial side-streams. It is a cross-border collaboration between Greece, Malta and France on a common strategy on strengthening the Mediterranean food added-value chains. EXCEL4MED innovation ecosystems will be interconnected with umbrella company organizations, research institutions, governmental bodies and societal actors that will be mutually reinforcing each other in a Mediterranean context and together will raise the level of innovation excellence in their regional fabric.