Baseline:
Qingdao West Coast National Marine Park is a national marine special protection area. It was approved by the State Oceanic Administration in March 2014. Including Lingshan Island, Tangdao Bay, the coastal line of Xuejia Island and some land areas, Langyatai and nearby sea areas, with a total area of 458.55 km2, including 395 km2 of sea area and 63 km2 of land area. It is divided into key protection areas, ecological and resource recovery areas, and moderate utilization areas. There are 58 fishing ports in the area, including 22 artificial fishing ports and 36 natural harbors, distributed in 11 coastal fishing towns and 3 islands, Lingshan Island, Zhucha Island and Zhaitang Island. In 2021, Qingdao's shellfish aquaculture output was 724,000 tons, with the main species including clams, oysters, scallops, mussels, etc.; shrimp aquaculture output was 14,000 tons, of which Chinese white shrimp and Japanese shrimp aquaculture output accounted for more than 1/8 of the China; The output of sea cucumber is 24,000 tons, and the number of grown larvae raised is 930 million, accounting for nearly 30% of the China sea cucumber market. By 2021, there were 25 marine ranches in the city, mainly concentrated in Laoshan Bay, Phoenix Island, Lingshan Bay and other water bodies, with a total area of 13,000 hectares, a total of more than 3.2 million reef cubes have been released. There are 18 national-level marine ranch demonstration areas, ranking second in China and accounting for 1/9 of China.
Scallop aquaculture mostly adopts raft culture, which refers to using floats and ropes to form floating rafts on the surface of shallow sea water, and fixing them to the seabed with cables, so that algae (such as kelp, seaweed) and sessile organisms (such as mussels) can be fixed on the slings, this is an aquaculture method suspended from floating rafts. Using polyethylene cages to culture scallops, as a type of raft culture, is currently the main culture method for scallop culture. It is a cylindrical net cage made of several layers of polyethylene nets and plastic discs, with plastic discs of about 1cm in aperture serving as partitions. The spacing between layers is 20-25cm, typically ranging from 8 to 10 layers. The cage is enveloped by a net with mesh sizes of 2.0-2.5cm, forming a cylindrical net cage.In the process of breeding, there are a lot of abandoned fishing gear such as floating gear and fishing nets, which leads to coastal pollution.
To solve this issue, relevant authorities established a supervisory inspection team and implemented a regular inspection mechanism. They actively promoted the "Regulation of Aquaculture Equipment Placement and Civilized Operation Campaign," conducting a total of 14 law enforcement inspections with 20 enforcement personnel dispatched. Find 11 issues and supervised the clearance of over 100 tons of waste. This initiative aims to enhance the aquaculture environment, reduce the environmental impact of white plastic nets, and alleviate the severe consequences of plastic waste to the marine ecosystem.

Problems:
During the scallop aquaculture process, a layer of white net is usually added to the outside of the scallop cage. As the scallops grow, this net is removed to facilitate water exchange. However, this layer of net is often discarded directly into the sea, resulting in severe marine pollution. According to surveys, the officially designated area for scallop farming in the region covers 13,000 hectares, while the government's actual statistics farming area is approximately 3,000 hectares and actually slightly larger than 3,000 hectares, which translates to over 45,000 mu. Each mu contains roughly 400-500 cages, totaling over 18-22.5 million cages. Based on current surveys, due to the absence of recycling vendors, nearly all non-recyclable white discarded fishing nets are left abandoned. Using the total estimate of 22.5 million cages, this amounts to approximately 1,125 tons of discarded fishing nets.
Due to the slow degradation of abandoned fishing nets, those can remain in the marine environment for decades, or even longer, if not collected in time. These nets are highly prone to entangling marine animals, leading to the entrapment of species like East Asian finless porpoises and fish. In addition, a large number of seagrass beds are distributed in this area, and abandoned fishing nets also cause damage to the seagrass beds.The microplastics gradually shed from discarded fishing gear are ingested by various filter feeders or fish in the ocean, and are more likely to transport harmful chemicals through the food chain to our tables. Therefore, the management of abandoned fishing nets is of incredible importance.
The fishing nets are made of polypropylene, which is a commonly used plastic material with relatively low recycling value. This may lead fishermen to be unwilling to invest effort in recycling these discarded nets, and instead, they may prefer to directly discard them into the ocean. These nets may attached by seaweed, shellfish, and other organisms during use, and also possibly absorb seawater, resulting in increased weight. Disposal and transporting these discarded nets may require a significant amount of manpower, further limiting the enthusiasm of fishermen to participate in the recycling process. The cost of recycling abandoned fishing nets can be relatively high.

Activities:
1.1 Visit 10 scallop farming fishing village communities in the West Coast District, and conduct on-site surveys and statistics on the quantity of discarded fishing nets. Combine with government data statistics to evaluate the data on discarded fishing nets quantity, etc. Conduct a questionnaire survey or face-to-face interviews with 50 individuals to understand the fishermen's level of awareness, attitudes, and behavioral habits regarding the issue of discarded fishing nets.
1.2 Conduct material identification on the fishing nets, and perform qualitative and quantitative analysis. Visit at least 1 circular economy enterprise, research institute, international organization, etc. Discuss the feasibility of fishing net recycling technology, resource recovery rate etc.
2.1 Establish a pilot project for centralized fishing net collection in a representative scallop farming village, in collaboration with Zhejiang Inresst recycled material Technology Co., LTD, as well as other relevant enterprises in the circular economy sector. Set up specialized facilities for collecting damaged or discarded fishing nets in ports and other designated locations and, establish a discarded fishing nets reporting system.Develop appropriate recycling incentives, providing fishermen with reasonable subsidies for fishing net recycling. Utilize discarded fishing gear as raw material to make circular economy products with production materials that can be traceable. Encourage downstream enterprises to consume these products, thereby achieving a closed-loop system for fishing net recycling. Evaluate the impact of the incentive mechanism on fishermen's participation, and assess the environmental and economic benefits of the closed-loop fishing net recycling system, such as reductions in environmental impact from discarded fishing gear and resource conservation.
2.2 Organized at least 20 community members, predominantly female volunteers, to participate in training on the classification and recovery of discarded fishing nets 3 times, encouraging them to actively participate in the recovery of abandoned fishing nets. Promote at least 3 community members (primarily women) to become recovery point staff.
3.1 Research and Analysis: Study the policy and regulatory framework for the management of abandoned fishing nets, as well as MSC certification standards and requirements,to analyze the linkages and gaps with scallop abandoned nets management projects. Provide recommendations to the government regarding the management of abandoned fishing nets. Meanwhile, offer suggestions to MSC certification bodies.
3.2 Organize a communication meeting on abandoned fishing net management. Representatives from the government, enterprises, NGOs, and MSC are invited to discuss the importance of abandoned fishing net management, as well as solutions and recommendations.
4.1 Collaborate with local primary and secondary schools, as well as the community, to conduct 1 exhibition focused on artwork or installations art made by discarded fishing gear to transform waste into valuable items and actively promote awareness about fishing gear recycling.
4.2 Introduce popular science related to abandoned fishing nets, and design environmental education lessons for abandoned fishing gear that are suitable for primary and middle school students as well as fishermen. Carry out online and face-to-face joint promote, to break geographical limitations, enabling more people to understand and pay attention to discarded fishing gear.
4.3 Publish popular science posts and videos about discarded fishing nets impact on biodiversity. Ensure the public deeply understands the importance of management discarding fishing nets. Choose between 5-7 support media outlets in the project range as partners. Utilize media platforms like TikTok, Bilibili, and other video-sharing platforms to publish popular science videos. Use visual and auditory elements to demonstrate the impact of discarded fishing nets on biodiversity, emphasizing the necessity of management of discarded fishing nets.

Outcomes:
Fishery Resources and Marine Environmental Protection: By 2024, no less than 14 tons of discarded fishing gear in Qingdao West Coast New Area will enter the local recycling industry chain, reducing waste of fishery resources caused by abandoned gear and increasing the sustainable utilization rate of resources; reduce the pollution of Marine garbage, effectively reduce the impact of abandoned fishing gear on coastal biodiversity, and protect the Marine ecosystem.
Improved Livelihoods for Stakeholders: The project is expected to increase the income of local discarded fishing gear collectors and participating fishermen by over 30%, thus enhancing their livelihoods.
Social Responsibility and Participation: The discarded fishing gear recycling project is anticipated to stimulate fishermen's environmental awareness and sense of social responsibility. It is estimated that approximately 80% of the fishermen participating in the project will place greater emphasis on environmental protection and take proactive measures to reduce the discard of abandoned fishing gear and other environmental impacts.