Alaska's 'Old, Junky' Fishing Nets To Find New Purpose In Denmark

UNALASKA, AK — Dozens of massive fishing nets weighing up to 20,000 pounds each are heading from the Aleutian Islands to Denmark, where a company will recycle the retired gear into plastic pellets.

Plastix, a company based in Copenhagen, heard about the roughly 80 nets thanks to fisheries observer Nicole Baker, who began stopping in Unalaska seven years ago.

"I just noticed that there was a lot of old, junky nets lying around," Baker said.

The nets weigh between 5,000 to 20,000 pounds each, so it's quite difficult to ship them or even find a place to take them, Alaska's Energy Desk reported Monday. Baker searched for two years for organizations capable of recycling the worn-out gear before finding Plastix. (For more information on the net recycling and other Alaska stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

CEO Axel Kristensen said it seemed unreasonable to simply throw the nets away. Plastix is the only company in the world recycling fishing nets the way it does, making the nets' usage endless, Kristensen said.

Boaters will package the nets into shipping containers with the help of Trident Seafoods. Plastix is paying for the shipping.

"We cannot do this alone," Kristensen said. "We need someone like Trident (Seafood), Nicole Baker, all kinds of stakeholders to take part in this project."

This is the first year of the collaboration. But Baker said there was high demand from fishermen looking to find a new use for their nets.

"I hope to keep this going somehow," she said.

Image credit: Tomás Fano via Flickr/Creative Commons