Discarded fishing gear is extremely deadly for marine life

[Simon]

I just stumbled upon this tweet and video which shows three turtles and even a bird stuck together in a discarded old fishing net. Luckily, they were all saved and set free when some people found them drifting around in the sea.

But the tweet reminded me of how extremely deadly these “ghost gear” that are floating around and pollution our oceans actually are. Some call these dumped and discarded nets, lines, and traps for “ghost gear”, which is a rather fitting name for this deadly waste.

A recent report by Greenpeace has shed some light on this deadly and growing problem. The report concluded that more than 640 000 tonnes of nets, lines, pots and traps used in commercial fishing are dumped and discarded in the sea every year. That is the same weight as 55 000 double-decker buses. Absolutely amazing and horrifying.

There are countless of videos and photos like the one above that shows how deadly and dangerous these dumped fishing gears really are.

And here is video that shows a giant manta ray being saved after getting stuck in fishing net.

These “ghost gear” are a threat to all marine life. 

We need much tougher regulations, policies, ocean sanctuaries, and a global legal UN framework that can protect marine life.