This WP holds all the management aspects of the project, namely management of tasks, technical management and risk assurance and evaluations. Important topics such as Ethics and Data Management are also addressed in the dedicated tasks.

Objectives:

● Manage and conduct NETTAG+ project management activities with the Executive Committee (EC)
● Manage project coordination activities between all partners and ensure the achievement/verification of NETTAG+ project operational/technical objectives
● Verification of overall deliverables quality
● Promote and establish an interface between the EC and external users and stakeholders’ network
● Ensure compliance with ethical principles, EU Data Management requirements and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)

This WP is focused on transforming the current role of the fisheries industry from ‘polluter’ to ‘guardian and cleaner’ of the ocean through different types of actions, such as sharing of best practices and rewarding strategies as well as infrastructures assessment and improvement.

Objectives:

● Identify, promote and implement best-practices on-board regarding the management of litter, possible use of alternative materials, and reduction of environmental harmful impacts
● Explore how ports can increase/improve facilities to receive litter collected by fishing boats as well as the litter from net reparation
● Demonstrate the contribution of fishers as cleaners of the ocean by organising a demonstration event (Clean Ocean Day) to quantify marine litter produced by the fishing vessels versus litter passively caught by fishing gear
● Pilot a promotion and reward fishers’ volunteer service in cleaning the ocean

This WP is devoted to the development and upscaling of smart acoustic tags with low environmental impact to map, detect and recover lost gears.

Objectives:

●Develop and engineer a robust, user-friendly and cost-effective fishing gear location system
●Increase the utility of the gear location system by adding a low-cost mechanical release option
●Demonstrate the capability of gear location by autonomous vehicles to reduce manpower
● Prove the effectiveness and useability of the gear location system in large-scale trials operated by fishers with different types of gear in various fishing grounds
● Assess and ensure the low environmental impact of the system in practice

This WP is devoted to the development of a new robotic platform able to detect ALDFG in ocean water column and sea bottom.

Objectives:

● Develop a system for the detection of ALDFG
● Develop a robotic system for extensive mapping of ALDFG
● Develop robotic tools for ALDFG gear tagging and for assisting their removal from the sea.
● Evaluate the integration of the developed technologies in daily fishing operations
● Assess and ensure the low environmental impact of the ALDFG detection and removal system
● Assess the environmental harmfulness of fishing gear as a new pollutant

This WP is focused on the exploitation of the solutions from NETTAG+ and on the transfer of the results and knowledge to key stakeholders in the fisheries sector. Exploitation measures will enable the best use of NETTAG+ results in decision-making, both in local contexts and at the national and EU-levels.

Objectives:

● Implement a Plan for Dissemination, Exploitation and Communication activities (PDEC), to increase awareness around protection and preservation of our ocean, seas and waters
● Ensure that the outcomes and Key Exploitable Results (KERs) of NETTAG+ are analysed and effectively transferred to maximise impact
● Develop exploitation activities for potential high-impact and cost-effective solutions.

This WP is focused on the dissemination and sharing of the generated knowledge to a wide range of audiences including policy makers, industry, scientists, EU projects and the general public to achieve maximum impact of NETTAG+ findings during and far beyond the project closure.

Objectives:

● Increase the general public’s awareness – especially young people – about the urgency of the marine litter problem and the solutions provided by NETTAG+
● Increase cooperation among the scientific community on NETTAG+ solutions, namely technological tools to monitor and tackle marine litter
● Increase national and regional policymakers understanding and support for the effectiveness of NETTAG+ solutions to tackle marine litter