LIFE OASIS: the smart solution to lost fishing gear

NEW LIFE OASIS project fiche 

Ghost gear, fishing nets, lines and floats that are lost or abandoned at sea and officially known as ALDFG (Abandoned, Lost or otherwise Discarded Fishing Gear) are considered a major threat to marine life. The Western and Central Mediterranean is a crucial foraging and migratory area for three populations of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta), a priority species under the EU Habitats Directive, for which lost gear has become an increasing threat. It also harms fishers: it is their tool of work and every loss carries a cost and depletes fish stocks. That is why fishers are central to the long-term solution: the guardians of the sea, best placed to prevent, report and retrieve lost gear. 

The LIFE OASIS project, coordinated by the Spanish organisation Proyecto Alnitak and running from 2024 to 2029, aims to prevent this, following a simple premise: the best ghost gear is the one that never existed in the first place. It tackles this from two directions. 

The first pillar, mitigation, focuses on detecting, reporting and retrieving ghost gear. It activates a network of fishers, seafarers and navigators to collect data on ghost gear and entangled loggerhead turtles. This data feeds backtracking models that trace gear to its source, while the network itself is trained to retrieve gear and rescue turtles safely. The second pillar, prevention, focuses on co-designing intelligent fishing gearAFAD (anchored fish aggregating device) with fishers that reduce losses in the first place, encourages reuse and retrieval of gear. 

LIFE OASIS’s objectives: 

• Work with fishers to design, develop and test intelligent AFAD prototypes fitted with an echo sounder and GPS (global positioning system), so gear can be checked and tracked from land. 
• Develop a business plan and management scheme for the fishery that focuses on value creation for the fishers as well as reuse and retrieval of the fishing gear. 
• Reduce the impact of ghost gear by developing backtracking models to identify the ghost gear sources and help prevent further losses 
• Establish best practices for monitoring and retrieving lost gear, and involve more fishers, sailors and organisations in reporting and retrieving it 
• Increase stakeholder engagement in sea turtle rescue 
• Scale up the intelligent fishing system and expand the network across the Mediterranean 
• Replace 3,500 AFADs across the trial sites in Spain, Malta, and Italy, and involve 350 fishers in reporting and retrieving lost gear by the end of the project 
• Target a 10% reduction in reported loggerhead turtle entanglements, and deliver awareness campaigns across Spain, Italy, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco 
• The spin-off is seeking €2.1 million in blended finance (a mix of public and private funding) to finalise the Research & Development of the intelligent hardware and software, produce the first hardware run, and install the first port locations for the 2028 fishing season 

Results so far:  

• Won the pitching competition at the ‘Re:Invest in Nature’ pitching event during EU Green Week 2026, in the category Nature Intelligence and Measurement, with comprehensive LIFE C2M support 
• Completed the sea trials for prototype 1 and is currently designing prototype 2 
• Engaged over 160 international stakeholders in rescue and retrieval efforts, and trained over 220 individuals across Malta, Spain and Italy 

Quote from the Coordinating Beneficiary:

Alice Schröder, economic expert responsible for developing the Business Model for the intelligent fishing system 

“LIFE OASIS was designed to launch a spin-off that brings its innovative solutions to more fishers, increasing their positive impact on nature. Throughout this journey, the C2M team has been an invaluable partner. Its support before and during the Re:Invest in Nature pitching event gave us valuable exposure to potential investors and the wider market at a pivotal moment, just as we were launching our next funding round."