DeFishGear Project

The international project of cross-border cooperation DeFishGear, funded under the European program IPA Adriatico, puts together the efforts of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Montenegro and Slovenia to address the various aspects related to the presence of solid waste in the Adriatic Sea. ISPRA is one of the partners in the project, with coordination by the Scientific Technical Structure of Chioggia.
DeFishGear aims to provide a first global assessment on the quantities and types of solid waste in the Adriatic Sea, using the same protocols and monitoring methodologies throughout the basin, raising the awaness of parties involved in the problem (fishing authorities, population, etc.) to prevent the production of marine litter and carry out practical actions to reduce it.
ISPRA addresses the problem of marine litter in the Adriatic Sea through a collaboration with fishermen and local institutions. In addition to a scientific activity of waste monitoring (on the beaches, on the seabed, on the surface and within the biota), useful to provide a first picture of the current situation, one of the main objectives is to import in Chioggia the practice known as fishing-for-litter, to involve fishermen in the sea cleaning process.