Killing them softly at the bottom of the big blue

The plastic crisis is the new reality. It’s highly unlikely there’s an adult who is not aware of plastic pollution and its damage to our seas and oceans. We know it takes ages for plastic products to break down. For a plastic bag, we are talking about 20 years; the coffee cups we use for coffee to go take about 30 years; followed by plastic straws (200 years), plastic bottles (450), plastic cups (450), disposable diapers (500), plastic toothbrushes (500)…

One less known problem is ghost gear - the most lethal form of marine plastic waste. Ghost gear refers to any fishing gear that has been abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded. It needs up to 600 years to degrade, and our seas are full of it! 800 thousand tons of ghost gear is abandoned annually which makes our seas a fishing gear cemetery. What’s worse, it’s not about plastic pollution only – the biggest problem is that these fishing tools keep serving their purpose even when lost at the bottom of the sea: they keep catching fish and other marine wildlife that very often die from injuries or exhaustion in attempts to free themselves. That is a slow and painful death for many animals.

The Mediterranean sea is a biodiversity hotspot full of various beautiful and important organisms, many of them protected. Ghost gear affects about 35% of bird species in the Mediterranean, as many fish and invertebrates such as crabs and octopuses, and its victims are also marine mammals and sea turtles. Globally, every sea turtle species is affected by ghost gear. It is estimated that 45% of marine mammals from the IUCN red list fall prey to ghost gear.

Besides significant damage ghost gear causes to marine ecosystems by harming important species and habitats, it has direct harmful consequences on fishers, and indirectly affects all seafood product consumers. Studies estimate that 90% of species caught in ghost gear are of commercial value. Ghost gear can also act as a navigation hazard, affecting a vessel’s ability to maneuver, causing operational delays, economic loss and, in extreme cases, injuries or even the loss of lives of crew members or ferry passengers.

Sounds terrifying? Good! It is a serious problem affecting us all!

In WWF Adria we are tackling this issue by mapping and retrieving abandoned fishing gear in the Adriatic Sea. With our project partners we are diving in and taking out the ghost gear in our pilot area – Lastovo Island. The results of this expedition are just about to be published, and hopefully encourage similar initiatives in the future.

Ghost gear is everywhere and we need to tackle this problem fast! If you want to be a part of the solution, the time is now. Symbolically adopt a marine turtle to help us in our work, or if you want to do more, contact me to learn how you can become our corporate partner supporting future actions like the one in the island of Lastovo.

#stopghostgear