The youth enterprise Marival, working closely with PartnerPlast, has won Euronext Blue Innovation award

In May, Marival won a national award for best collaboration with the business community. Now the talented young people has won an European award as well.

The youth enterprise from Romsdal upper secondary school, Marival UB, has collaborated with PartnerPlast on the product that aims to put an end to the big problem around ghost fishing, which means lost fishing equipment.

– We wanted to find a solution to a problem that does not yet have a proper solution. Figures from WWF estimate that between 500,000 and one million tonnes of fishing equipment are lost on the seabed each year. The abandoned fishing equipment has major consequences for both the environment and underwater life. Marival UB has therefore chosen to build a business idea around a product that can solve this problem, and through this improve both the environment and fish welfare, says manager of Marival UB, Karoline Clausen-Bekken.- The product we are going to develop is very stretchy, can withstand a lot and has no sharp edges. This ensures that it does not get in the way of the work of the fishermen. All fishing boats are equipped with echo sounders, but it is impossible to locate fishing equipment on this. However, our product contains aluminum particles that will make it possible to locate the equipment on the sonar. This means that the fishermen can locate the equipment immediately, and then pull it up, says Clausen-Bekken.

Proud mentors

– We have been mentors for Marival and we are very proud of what they have achieved, says CEO of PartnerPlast Tom Samuelsen. – It is important for PartnerPlast to support and contribute to such projects, we want to contribute by giving entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial companies access to our expertise.

The youth enterprise has already received good response from possible customers in the market.

Wants to establish an AS

– After a good response from fishermen, good results at the Norwegian Championship in Youth Business and not least support from our network, we have great faith in our idea. We therefore want to take the next step in establishing an AS. We will not be able to do this alone, and we are completely dependent on the good help we have received from the business community. We look forward to further cooperation, and especially with PartnerPlast which is our largest partner. We are incredibly grateful for the help we have given us. We hope that together we can realize our idea and put a stop to ghost fishing, says Clausen-Bakken.

– Marival has made a huge effort and it has been a great pleasure working with them. Congratulations on the hard work they have put in and the award. We look forward to continuing the collaboration in the future, says Samuelsen.