Ghost gear is the most deadly form of marine plastic debris.
-WWF
GHOST FISHING GEAR IS…
any discarded, lost, or abandoned fishing gear in the marine environment, including nets, long lines, hooks, fish traps, lobster pots, and other efficient man-made fishing equipment.
A PROBLEM.
It’s intentionally designed to ensnare and capture wildlife; it continues to catch fish and other marine life even after it’s been lost or discarded.
Many animals that get caught or entangled within abandoned fishing lines, nets, traps and other gear die a slow and painful death through suffocation or exhaustion. Ghost gear also damages valuable marine habitats, it undermines the sustainability and economic returns from fisheries as part of their harvest is lost, it poses navigation hazards threatening the safety of mariners, and like other marine debris, ghost gear can affect tourism by spoiling an area’s natural beauty.
Numbers speak louder
It’s estimated that ghost gear makes up at least 10% of marine litter. That means somewhere between 500,000 and 1 million tonnes of fishing gear gets left in the ocean every year.
Nets, lines and ropes from fishing and shipping make up 46% of the 45,000-129,000 tonnes of plastic floating in the North Pacific Gyre.
Marine debris impacts 66% of marine mammals, 50% of seabirds and all species of sea turtles – and across all species groups, ghost gear is the type most likely to prove lethal.
A long lasting issue
Fishing gear has been lost, abandoned or otherwise discarded in all seas and oceans ever since fishing began. As an environmental problem it first gained global recognition at the 16th Session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries in April 1985.
The extent and impacts of the problem have increased significantly over the last 50 years with the growing levels of fishing effort and capacity in the world’s oceans and the increasing durability of fishing gear.
While it’s a problem that’s been known for decades, only in last few years have we begun to understand the full extent of the issue – and what we can do about it.
What solutions are there?
Prevention
Preventing fishing gear loss is the top priority, with education, voluntary measures and regulations all having a role to play.
Prevention measures include restricting the use of high-risk gear in certain areas or times of year, marking fishing gear so it’s clearly visible and the owner can be identified, and facilitating the end-of-life disposal and recycling processes.
Mitigation
Some fishing gear will inevitably get lost, so it’s important to adopt mitigation measures. Including biodegradable components so the gear breaks down quickly is one effective way to prevent ghost fishing. Biodegradable components are already used in some shellfish traps and fish aggregating devices (FADs), however more research is needed into biodegradable nets and other gear.
Retrieval
Since plastic gear can have long-lasting impacts, it’s important to remove and retrieve as much lost and abandoned gear as possible. And it shouldn’t stop there, once the gear is retrieved it needs to be cleaned, recycled and found a secondary purpose in order to avoid it ending up in landfills.