<p>Degradation in the strength characteristics of fishing nets due to natural weathering has major technical and environmental significance. Deterioration in the strength of net leads to breakage and loss of net parts/nets into the aquatic ecosystem. This will result in adverse environmental impacts including plastic pollution and capture/entanglement of non-targeted species in these lost nets. The present work aimed to investigate the effect of outdoor natural weathering on polyethylene (PE) netting twine, focusing on changes in mechanical properties, mainly the breaking strength and elongation-at-break values. PE netting twines were exposed to outdoor natural weathering for 1&#xa0;year at Willingdon island, Kerala, India. Breaking strength values decreased exponentially with the progress in weathering and 50% loss in the values observed after 270&#xa0;days of exposure. Loss in elongation-at-break values was higher compared to loss in that of breaking strength. Surface degradation of weathered samples was characterized by many cracks and grooves, and the results of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy showed notable chemical structure alterations. The results will be useful for predicting the service life of the PE netting twine. The baseline data generated can also be used for developing mitigation measures to reduce the negative ecological impacts resulting from the weathering and degradation of fishing net materials. </p> Graphical abstract <p></p>