Net Your Problem LLC

Net Your Problem LLC is working on re-doing the website, so Ive been tasked with looking back through the 11,000 photos on my phone and picking out just the right ones to wow internet visitors. So I had to scroll through pictures from my visit to some recycle factories in Europe in Jan of 2023. So what made me come to LinkedIn? Just to encourage EVERYONE to do something in your work that truly makes you happy. This is me, kayaking on a "business trip" in a sea cave in the Algarve (Portugal) that has been on my bucketlist FOREVER. You CAN build a life that makes you happy personally and professionally, and that can happen in a million different ways for a million different people, but ALWAYS strive for happiness. Thank you for coming to my motivational speech :)

Who wants to go in with me to buy a set net permit in Egegik? No seriously... I spent a couple days there in mid June and fell in love, with the lifestyle, the people, the mode of transport, the fact that there is no electricity, running water, phone service or internet - and just relished in riding up and down the beach visiting cozy cabins, introducing our recycling program to this slice of heaven. It is one of the most important sites we have started so far in my opinion because the alternative to recycling is being burned, and let me tell you, whizzing by the burn barrel doesn't smell that great. So thanks to Judy Phillis and Lisa Krebs for making us aware of this beautiful place and we look forward to receiving some web at our baling station in Naknek at the end of July. Good luck to all our new friends working hard to bring healthy protein to the world and subscribe to our newsletter if you want to know what else we have been up to in Bristol Bay for the last few weeks. #Outhouse #Banya #TheGoodLife

We made it! Over the course of our 6 day drive from Newport OR to Haines AK we: had 1 wildfire escort saw 2 moose, 1 wild horse, a bunch of deer, 5 caribou, 43 adult bison, 2 baby bison, 1 black bear, 1 brown bear, 1 bald eagle and 3 porcupines covered 2,206 miles spent $1,158.40 CAD on diesel stopped at 1 hot spring started and didnt finish 2 audiobooks (they put me to sleep) did 24 trailer light checks passed through 5 states/provinces had 1 check engine light scare (it turned off on its own) 2 cracks added to the windshield encountered 2 snow flurries drove over 2 really rough patches of gravel and crossed 2 international borders PHEW!

As much as I hate filling out forms, (Im looking at you City of Seattle Annual Recycler License Application/Renewal) its a good way to force me to look at the impact Net Your Problem LLC has had in hard numbers. For the City of Seattle, that means diverting 32.47 tons (=71,434 lbs) of maritime plastics from the landfill in 2023. Those plastics came from American Seafoods, Alaska Marine Lines, the North Pacific Groundfish Observer Program, CoastSavers, Pacific Seafood, FV Beauty Bay and from the Spring Clean event we did with BASF and trinamiX GmbH. So thanks guys for giving me something to fill out on this form :) Photo Captions: (1) recycling marine debris with CoastSavers from the WA coastline (2) American Seafoods staff wrestling a pelagic trawl into a supersack (3) Capt Scott of the Beauty Bay dropping off some fish pans (4) barge tie up lines dropped off by AML to our Ballard warehouse (5) Paul McCluskey from the NPGOP dropping off observer sampling baskets (6) 18 bags of yellow rope fragments sent for recycling by Pacific Seafood (7) cheesy shot with BASF and Trinamix on a seine at Fishermens Terminal

Well we did it. 28 ports in 21 days, over a grand total of 4,263 miles. Thanks for being a great co-pilot Caitlin Townsend. Here is some of what I learned during Net Your Problem LLC's road trip to the biggest ports in the SE United States. 1. Virginia: Man, the East Coast fisheries are much more connected than we thought. A lot of New Bedford to Virginia traffic happening, while fishing and delivering to all kinds of states, depending on trip limits (I think). This traffic pattern could be very helpful moving nets to our warehouse in Massachusetts. 2. North Carolina: This was the first state where we learned about dipped nets. Nylon shrimp trawls are dipped in a polyurethane coating that makes them last for 30 years (which is great) but which is a problem for recycling. John Misasi, I think a senior project is in order here! 3. Alabama: You can be a mayor and also build nets. 4. Mississippi: Casino dinner buffets are where its at :) But also Mississippi State University has a crab trap recycling program that originally paid fishermen for bringing in derelict pots. Now (4 yrs after the program started) they do it without filling in the form to get paid. I LOVE THIS! And after talking with Frankie (the president of MS Commercial Fisheries United), we learned that there is up to one MILLION pounds of shrimp trawls being thrown out (in the entire Gulf of Mexico) yearly. Good thing we loved Biloxi cause I think we will be back! 5. Louisiana: Simple. Friends dont let friends eat farmed shrimp. The shrimp industry, like others in the US, is really suffering from depressed prices but in Louisiana its primarily due to competition from imported shrimp. That, on top of some pretty strong storms in the last few years, has crippled some towns that used to be shrimp heavens. Some towns have chosen not to rebuild their infrastructure, and some have moved processing jobs and warehouses inland. Working waterfronts are non-existent. 6. Texas: Texas Sea Grant (like most of the SeaGrant programs we have worked with) has a great relationship with commercial fishermen, and were invaluable in connecting us with some ports and processors and fishermen that we are sure we will be working with in the future. Overall, not a single person we talked to, and we estimate it was around 70 people, slammed the door in our face, told us to get off their property, or said recycling is a bad idea. This, despite talking to fishermen using all different kinds of gear types and fishing for many different species, of differing political beliefs and a wide range of ages, including many whose first language may not have been English. I think we might be onto something here. Captions: (1) Caity explaining what NYP does to the crew of the FV Dakota in Virginia (2) Caity on the docks in Wanchese NC (3) Nicole and Caity in Biloxi MS (4) Nicole and Caity with Tony from TX SeaGrant

As part of a grant Net Your Problem LLC is involved in, the Center for Coastal Studies (Provincetown, MA) is hiring a #MarineDebris Operations Assistant to "work on opportunities and challenges associated with abandoned, lost, discarded or "end-of-life" fishing gear, the target of our removal and recycling efforts in New England" and said position is "fun, rewarding and somewhat demanding" according to Laura Ludwig. If you are interested, check out the position on their website https://lnkd.in/gS5jXUhP

The Pacific Marine Expo was pretty great this year, my throat and feet hurt at the end of each day, but one of my favorite moments was running into Stacey Hansen from Saltwater Inc. As some of you may know, I used to be a fisheries observer in the North Pacific - its what introduced me to Alaska for the first time in May of 2010 and gave me the idea for Net Your Problem LLC many years later. Stacey is the observer coordinator, she assigns you to boats, books your flights, and generally makes sure everything goes well. And if it doesnt, she will fix it. We worked together for a long time, and Saltwater Inc. has continued to support me even after I stopped working for them on boats. Ive stayed at the bunkhouse in Anchorage and Dutch Harbor, driven the car in Kodiak, and received an "atta girl, we are so proud of you" from almost every staff member (looking especially at you Nancy). #ObserverLife really is a family and Im so proud to be a part of the Saltwater Inc. one.

Net Your Problem LLC is now in Oregon! As we move down the list of the top ports in the US, we had to take a stab at setting up shop in Newport. Now trawlers, gillnetters and crabbers can all drop off their old, worn out gear at the International Terminal and we will take it apart and send it to a recycler. Thank you Port Of Newport Terminal for your collaboration in this effort and we hope more ports see the value of what we are doing and want to join in! Thanks also to the News Times for writing this great story about our efforts! https://lnkd.in/enQDMcPz