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The Fishing Net That Works Like Nylon — and Doesn’t Haunt the Ocean After It’s Lost
Eco-Friendly Yarn Innovation · Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester Filament Technology
The Challenge
“Every season we lose a percentage of our nets to storms and snags. We know exactly where they end up — and we know they’ll still be strangling marine life a century from now.”
A commercial fishing net and rope manufacturer faced a problem the industry rarely says out loud: lost and discarded fishing gear — known as “ghost gear” — is one of the most lethal forms of ocean plastic pollution. Conventional nylon and polyester netting can persist in marine environments for centuries, drifting and continuing to entangle fish, turtles, seals, and whales long after it’s abandoned. The manufacturer needed a filament yarn that could match the tensile strength, abrasion resistance, and knot retention of standard netting materials during active use at sea — but break down through natural marine microbial activity once it became ghost gear, instead of persisting indefinitely as a lethal drifting hazard.
A commercial fishing net and rope manufacturer faced a problem the industry rarely says out loud: lost and discarded fishing gear — known as “ghost gear” — is one of the most lethal forms of ocean plastic pollution. Conventional nylon and polyester netting can persist in marine environments for centuries, drifting and continuing to entangle fish, turtles, seals, and whales long after it’s abandoned. The manufacturer needed a filament yarn that could match the tensile strength, abrasion resistance, and knot retention of standard netting materials during active use at sea — but break down through natural marine microbial activity once it became ghost gear, instead of persisting indefinitely as a lethal drifting hazard.
Our Innovation Journey
1
Why Ghost Gear Is the Ocean’s Most Overlooked Plastic Crisis
Ghost gear — nets, ropes, and traps lost or abandoned at sea — is consistently identified as one of the deadliest forms of marine plastic debris, continuing to entangle and kill marine life for decades after being lost. Conventional polyester and nylon netting can persist in ocean environments for well over a century, drifting across currents and accumulating in gyres far from the point of loss. Unlike land-based plastic waste, ghost gear cannot be recovered through recycling infrastructure once it sinks or drifts offshore — making prevention at the material level the only realistic mitigation strategy. A filament that degrades under marine microbial conditions addresses the hazard at its source, independent of recovery efforts.
2
How Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester Works in a Marine Environment
Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester Filament Yarn is not a surface treatment — biodegradable additives are compounded directly into the polyester polymer matrix during fiber extrusion, so the entire cross-section of the filament carries the degradation mechanism, not just the outer layer. Once netting made from Earth Guard® enters a marine environment as lost or abandoned gear, resident marine microbial communities interact with the embedded additives to initiate accelerated decomposition. Because the pathway is microbial, not photodegradation or mechanical abrasion, the filament breaks down into organic byproducts rather than fragmenting into persistent microplastic strands that continue circulating through the marine food chain.
3
Performance at Sea: No Compromise for the Working Life of the Net
A net that degrades prematurely while still deployed is a net that costs a fishing operation revenue and safety. Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester Filament Yarn retains full tensile strength, knot retention, and abrasion resistance throughout its intended working life — active fishing, hauling, storage, and repeated deployment do not trigger degradation. The mechanism activates specifically under sustained marine microbial exposure consistent with gear that has been lost or discarded, not gear in normal operational use. This means fishing operators gain the same functional netting performance they already rely on, with a fundamentally different end-of-life outcome if the gear is ever lost at sea.
4
A Traceable Sustainability Claim for Fisheries and Gear Manufacturers
Fisheries certification bodies, seafood buyers, and marine conservation partners are increasingly asking gear manufacturers what happens to netting after it’s lost — not just how it performs while in use. Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester provides a specific, testable answer: the filament is engineered to degrade under marine microbial conditions, reducing the multi-decade entanglement hazard that conventional netting represents. For manufacturers pursuing sustainable fisheries certification, ESG-aligned procurement from seafood brands, or differentiation in a gear market increasingly scrutinized for ocean plastic contribution, this claim can be substantiated through recognized marine biodegradation testing — not asserted through marketing language alone.
The Result: Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester Netting & Rope Filament
Full working-life performance at sea. Accelerated biodegradation once gear becomes ghost gear. A substantiable marine sustainability claim — engineered into the fiber, not printed on a hangtag.
✓ Biodegradable in marine microbial environments
✓ In-polymer additive — carried through the full filament cross-section
✓ Full tensile strength & knot retention during active use
✓ Degrades into organic byproducts — not persistent microplastic strands
✓ Suitable for netting, rope, and monofilament-style constructions
✓ Supports fisheries certification & seafood supply chain ESG claims
📋 A Note on Biodegradation Conditions & Performance Expectations
Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester Filament Yarn is engineered to biodegrade under marine microbial conditions. Biodegradation rate depends on specific environmental factors including microbial population density, water temperature, depth, and salinity. Performance during active service life — including tensile strength, knot retention, and abrasion resistance — is not affected by standard operational use, storage, or repeated deployment. Marine biodegradation claims should be validated against applicable standards (e.g., ASTM D6691 for marine biodegradation) and your specific gear application. Sample and field evaluation is recommended before production commitment. Earth Guard® does not replace responsible gear recovery and reporting programs — it addresses the material fate of gear that is lost despite best operational practices.
Why It Matters: The Numbers Behind Ghost Gear
640K+
Tons of Fishing Gear
Lost in Oceans Annually
Lost in Oceans Annually
100+
Years for Conventional Netting
to Break Down at Sea
to Break Down at Sea
10%
Estimated Share of Ghost Gear
in All Ocean Plastic Debris
in All Ocean Plastic Debris
100K+
Marine Animals Killed Annually
by Entanglement in Lost Gear
by Entanglement in Lost Gear
Manufacturing fishing nets, ropes, aquaculture gear, or other marine-deployed textile products? Let’s discuss how Earth Guard® Biodegradable Polyester Filament Yarn can give your gear a genuine end-of-life sustainability story — not just a compliance checkbox.
Request Yarn Samples →
CEO Founder at Annie's Smartex
Annie Kwok is the CEO & Founder of Annie's Smartex, with 18+ years of expertise in functional fiber R&D. She has led the development of 20+ patented textile technologies, including cooling, antibacterial, and biodegradable yarn systems, serving clients in 30+ countries worldwide.
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