A large ‘ghost net’ was recently washed up on Marazion beach in Cornwall, UK. Ghost netting is a term used to describe nets lost or deliberately left in the ocean by fishermen often because it is the easiest and least expensive way to dispose of them.
Each year this deadly, silent floating debris kills thousands of sea creatures including dolphins and whales and also destroys fragile reefs. Their impact on seas, oceans and their inhabitants is very long lasting, as due to the nature of the materials used to produce these nets they can, and will keep ‘drift fishing’ for multiple decades, possibly even for several centuries causing untold harm.
It took six people from the Mounts Bay Marine Group an hour and a half to cut the fishing net into smaller pieces and remove it from the beach. It is now hoped that colleagues at Ghost Fishing UK will be able to recycle the pieces of net which can then be used to produce other items – anything from a kayak to a carpet! An estimated 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is left in oceans each year, therefore it is vital a solution to this problem is found. One option being considered to prevent the abandonment of fishing gear is to mark it with electronic and acoustic tags to hold those who discarded it more accountable.
