A fishing net that does its job, and then — if it is lost — quietly disappears instead of fishing forever. That is the promise of a trawl net built in Brittany, France, which has just gone to sea for the first time. On 8 October 2026, the French project LINC BioMer marked a milestone at Tréffiagat: the first biodegradable trawl net, made from a mostly bio-based material, had been produced — and its first panels were fitted to a trawl for testing under real fishing conditions.
For Indian fishers, this is not a distant curiosity. Trawl nets are the workhorses of India’s marine catch, and every net lost at sea keeps on fishing — a phenomenon called ghost fishing. A net that stops ghost fishing without asking fishers to change how they work would matter from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu. Here is what the French project has actually achieved, what the science says, and what is still unproven.
The project at a glance
| Project | LINC BioMer — L’INnovation pour des filets et Cordages Biodégradables en Mer (Innovation for biodegradable nets and ropes at sea) |
| Country | France (Brittany) |
| Started | Initiated in 2019 by net manufacturer Le Drezen; formally structured in 2024 under Coopération Maritime |
| Milestone | 8 October 2026 — first biodegradable trawl net produced; press coverage 13 October 2026 |
| Material | Mostly bio-based, non-ecotoxic, designed to biodegrade in the sea with a controlled lifespan |
| Sea trial | Two net panels fitted to a trawl, tested aboard Manathia, a 16-metre Scapêche vessel fishing langoustine (Norway lobster) off the Brittany coast |
| Budget | Nearly €1.2 million |
| Consortium | Coopération Maritime, Le Drezen, ComposiTIC / Université de Bretagne Sud, Ifremer, Scapêche — supported by France Filière Pêche |
The problem it is trying to solve: ghost fishing
When fishing gear is lost, abandoned or discarded at sea, it does not stop working. Nets, lines, pots and traps keep catching fish, turtles, dolphins and seabirds for years — sometimes decades. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that at least 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is lost or abandoned in the oceans every year, and that this “ghost gear” makes up about one-tenth of all waste in the oceans.
A World Wildlife Fund report, Stop Ghost Gear, puts the loss rates in stark terms: every year, 5.7% of all fishing nets, 8.6% of all traps and pots, and 29% of all fishing lines used globally are lost. That adds up to between 500,000 and one million tonnes of ghost gear entering the ocean each year. Synthetic nets can persist for hundreds of years, slowly shedding microplastics into the food chain while they keep on fishing.
The damage is not only ecological. Lost gear costs the global fishing industry an estimated $1 billion a year in damaged vessels, lost catch and clean-up, according to FAO-linked estimates cited in Mediterranean ghost-net projects. For small-scale fishers, a lost net is also lost income twice over — the gear itself, and the fish it keeps catching for nobody.
How the biodegradable net was built
LINC BioMer did not start with a net. It started with chemistry. Over three years of research, ComposiTIC, the technical platform of the Université de Bretagne Sud, developed 40 molecular formulations from scratch and tested them before selecting one final formulation. Prototypes of monofilaments and braids were then manufactured and put through mechanical, thermal and abrasion tests.
The winning material is described by the project as mostly bio-based, non-ecotoxic and biodegradable in the sea, with a controlled lifespan — the key engineering trick. A net must stay strong while it is being used and only break down after it is lost. If it degrades too fast, it fails the fisher; if it degrades too slowly, it fails the ocean. Getting that timing right is the whole challenge, and it is exactly what the sea trial is designed to measure.
Crucially, the project says the new material fits existing manufacturing processes. The first net panels were made in Le Drezen’s own workshops at Tréffiagat using the company’s normal net-making methods — a sign that, if the trials succeed, production could scale without rebuilding the factory.
What the science already says — and its honest limit
The idea behind the net is backed by peer-reviewed science. A study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin in February 2025 by researchers at Ifremer and Le Drezen tested a biodegradable twine made from PBS/PBAT — poly(butylene succinate) blended with poly(butylene adipate terephthalate) — in trawl fishing. Their findings:
- The biodegradable braid was about half as strong as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), the standard net material — weaker, but still suitable for braiding and netting.
- After three years in seawater, monofilaments showed biological degradation, losing 20% of their strength at 15°C and 80% at 25°C — warmer water breaks the material down faster.
- Trawl modelling showed that changing the material and its ageing only slightly affected trawl performance — the net still fished much like a conventional one.
One honest caveat: that study tested a PBS/PBAT twine, while LINC BioMer’s final formulation is its own, undisclosed blend. The project has not published its own strength or degradation figures yet. The Ifremer results show the approach can work in principle; whether this particular net hits the right balance of strength and lifespan is precisely what the Manathia trial must prove.
The sea trial: what happens now
Two net panels made from the new material have been mounted on a trawl aboard the Manathia, a 16-metre vessel of the Scapêche fleet that fishes langoustine in coastal waters. The trial will observe, over time, how the material holds up to the real stresses of the job — hauling, abrasion on the seabed, salt water, sunlight and the weight of the catch.
There is no published timetable for the results, and no commercial price or sale date for the net. That is normal for a first sea trial: the project moved from laboratory to industrial production in October 2026, and the next step is evidence, not marketing. Anyone claiming the net is already on sale, or quoting a price, is getting ahead of the project’s own announcements.
Who paid for it
| Funder | Amount |
| France Filière Pêche | €500,000 |
| Fondation Engie, via Fondation UBS | €277,500 |
| Ocean Winds | €50,000 |
| CNPMEM (French national fisheries committee) | €32,000 |
| Consortium partners (one-third of the total) | Remainder of the ~€1.2 million budget |
The funding mix is itself a signal: the money comes from the fishing industry, an energy foundation, an offshore wind developer and the national fisheries committee. Biodegradable gear is being treated as shared infrastructure for the whole marine economy, not as one company’s product launch.
France is not alone: the global race for nets that disappear
LINC BioMer is the most advanced trawl-net effort, but it is part of a wider movement — and some of it is happening much closer to India:
- Kenya and South Africa — Catchgreen: The Catchgreen project, backed by the UK’s Sustainable Manufacturing and Environmental Pollution (SMEP) programme, is trialling nets and ropes made from Biodolomer®Ocean, a biodegradable polymer from Sweden’s GAIA Biomaterials. Gillnets were tested with fishers off Kenya’s coast and ropes on lobster creels in Norway. The project manager says the trials “proved very well”; with SMEP’s programme ending in October 2026, the next step is turning the proven prototype into a commercial product fishers can buy.
- Mediterranean — REMEDIES: An EU project has built a demonstrator knotted monofilament net (0.33 mm diameter, 41.6 mm half mesh) and braided rope from biodegradable polymers, now at technology readiness level 7 — proven in an operational environment. Professional fishermen are testing the gear at two demo sites: the Sinis Peninsula in Sardinia and the Cyclades in Greece.
- Japan — a surprise discovery: Researchers at the University of Tokyo found in 2025 that some ordinary commercial nylon fishing lines — a nylon-6/nylon-66 copolymer at an 86:14 ratio — already biodegrade in the sea, crumbling after three months in field tests off Ehime prefecture. The finding, from Japan’s Moonshot research programme, suggests the ghost-gear problem may have more solutions hiding in plain sight than anyone assumed.
Why Indian fishers should watch this
India has one of the world’s largest trawl fleets, and its coasts already carry the cost of lost gear — fouled propellers, damaged reefs, and fish killed for no one. Three reasons this French trial matters here:
- It is built for trawls, not just pots and lines. Most biodegradable-gear work so far has targeted simpler gear — gillnets, pots, ropes. Trawls are bigger, heavier and harder on material. If a biodegradable trawl survives commercial fishing, the technology can plausibly reach every other gear type.
- It uses normal factories. Because the panels were made on Le Drezen’s standard production line, the path from trial to market does not need new machinery — which is what would keep the price within reach of ordinary fishers.
- India is already working the other end of the problem. ICAR-CIFT has shown how discarded ghost nets can be collected and turned into products — read our story on it below — so the Indian fisheries system is already thinking about net waste as a resource. A net that never becomes waste in the first place would complete that circle.
None of this means Indian fishers should wait for a French net. No price exists, no Indian trial is announced, and the material’s performance in warm tropical water — where the Ifremer study shows degradation runs much faster — is still untested. What it means is that the direction of travel is clear: within a few years, the nets fishers buy may come with a lifespan built in.
Frequently asked questions
Will a biodegradable net fall apart while I am fishing?
That is the central design question. The material is engineered for a controlled lifespan — strong during its working life, degrading only after prolonged exposure once lost. The Ifremer study found a PBS/PBAT braid about half as strong as HDPE but still usable, and trawl performance only slightly affected. The Manathia trial exists to answer this question in real conditions.
How long does a lost biodegradable net take to disappear?
It depends on temperature and the exact formulation. In the Ifremer seawater-ageing tests, PBS/PBAT monofilaments lost 20% of their strength after three years at 15°C and 80% at 25°C. LINC BioMer has not published its own degradation timeline — that is one of the trial’s measurements.
Is the net on sale? What does it cost?
No. As of 7 November 2026, no price or commercial launch date has been published. The project reached industrial production of its first net in October 2026 and is now in the sea-trial phase.
What is ghost fishing, in one line?
Lost or abandoned fishing gear that keeps catching and killing marine life — at least 640,000 tonnes of gear is lost every year, according to the FAO.
Are other countries working on this too?
Yes — Kenya and South Africa are trialling biodegradable gillnets and ropes (Catchgreen), the EU’s REMEDIES project is testing biodegradable nets in Sardinia and the Cyclades, and Japanese researchers found some existing nylon lines already biodegrade in seawater.
Related stories on Fisheries India
- Ghost Nets to Gold? CIFT Turns Sea Waste into Products — ICAR-CIFT is converting discarded fishing nets into useful products instead of letting them ghost-fish.
- World’s First Steel Fish Cage Hits the Water — the other big gear innovation of this month: a steel cage built to survive the open sea.
- India’s First Open-Sea Fish Farm: How NIOT’s Cages Work — how India’s own open-sea cage farming works, and what it means for coastal fishers.
- Fishing Crafts & Gears MCQs: 20 Questions to Ace — test your knowledge of fishing craft and gear, from trawls to traps.
Official links and sources
- France Filière Pêche — Projet LINC BioMer : la presse salue une avancée décisive (13 October 2026; 8 October milestone, 40 formulations, budget ~€1.2 million, Manathia trial)
- Bretagne Économique — Le Drezen en passe d’industrialiser le premier chalut biodégradable (13 October 2026; initiated 2019, funding breakdown)
- Tridge — Trialling biodegradable trawl netting (13 October 2026; English summary of the trial)
- Le Gué et al., Marine Pollution Bulletin (Feb 2025) — Biodegradable twine for trawl fishing: seawater ageing and net modelling (PBS/PBAT strength and degradation figures)
- Oceanographic Magazine — Up to one million tons of ghost gear fishing waste entering ocean each year, according to WWF report (loss rates: 5.7% of nets, 8.6% of traps, 29% of lines)
- SMEP Programme — Catchgreen: Biodegradable Ropes and Fishing Gear (updated 5 November 2026; Kenya and South Africa pilots)
- REMEDIES — Fishing nets made with biodegradable polymers (updated 14 October 2026; TRL7 demonstrator, Sardinia and Cyclades trials)
Images in this post are illustrations, not photographs of the LINC BioMer net or the Manathia. No price, sale date or trial result has been published as of 7 November 2026 — check the project’s official pages for updates.