Plastic Recycling is Largely A Myth.

The world produces an average of 430 million metric tons of plastic each year. The United States alone produces tens of millions of tons of plastic waste annually. Yet on average, only about 5 to 6 percent of plastic in the U.S. is recycled.

Basically, the vast majority of plastic either literally cannot be recycled, at all, or would be astoundingly expensive to properly seperate according to it's different types and run through the recycling process.

... So, in most cases, it isn't, and just ends up in a landfill or being directly dumped into nature.

Oil companies have known this for decades, and, as with other issues surrounding pollution ... they've promoted anything that makes an individual feel guilty when they know that even if all individuals followed the suggested course of action, it would have a negligible impact.

Just FYI:

Single-use plastic products are used once, or for a short period of time, before being thrown away. Under the EU’s rules on single-use plastics, the EU is tackling the 10 single-use plastic items most commonly found on Europe’s beaches and is promoting sustainable alternatives. The 10 items are

Cotton bud sticks 
Cutlery, plates, straws and stirrers 
Balloons and sticks for balloons 
Food containers 
Cups for beverages 
Beverage containers 
Cigarette butts 
Plastic bags 
Packets and wrappers 
Wet wipes and sanitary items 

https://commission.europa.eu/news/less-plastic-waste-means-cleaner-beaches-2024-08-14_en

So yeah, nets are bad, but straws, plastic bags, cigarettes and packages are also a problem.

But what if we pass the responsibility down to the consumer instead of dealing with industrial waste that's often more of a matter of cost than practicality?

On an unrelated notes, a huge fraction of oceanic microplastics is from car tyres. Driving is a number one source of oceanic microplastic.

But aside from donating to NGOs dedicated to cleaning up ocean litter, the average person has very little way to reduce the number of plastic nets in the water. It requires lifting fishermen out of poverty, teaching them more sustainable fishing practices, and cracking down on littering, all things that require international cooperation.