Ghost Nets: An Invisible Threat

What Ghost Gear Is

Ghost gear refers to any fishing equipment abandoned, lost, or discarded at sea: gillnets, trawl nets, longlines, pots, and traps. Ghost gear is the most lethal form of marine plastic pollution by animal count. A 2018 study estimated that abandoned fishing gear accounts for approximately 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch by weight — more than all other plastic debris combined. Globally, an estimated 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is lost or abandoned annually.

How Ghost Nets Kill

Entanglement: Fish, sea turtles, dolphins, whales, sharks, and seabirds become entangled in ghost nets. For air-breathing animals (turtles, cetaceans), entanglement is rapidly fatal — unable to surface, they drown. The IUCN estimates that at least 800 marine species are affected by entanglement in ghost gear.

Continued fishing: Ghost nets do not stop fishing when they're abandoned. They drift, snag, and catch marine life continuously — until the accumulated weight of decaying catch causes the net to sink, at which point the catch rots, the net rises, and the cycle repeats. Modern synthetic netting (polyethylene, nylon) has a marine lifespan of hundreds of years.

Reef damage: Nets that snag on reef structures drag and abrade the coral. Ghost nets on reefs in the Indo-Pacific have been documented causing damage to areas of 50+ square metres before removal.

Divers Removing Ghost Gear

Some of the most effective ghost gear removal has been conducted by recreational and technical divers. Several organizations coordinate and train divers for ghost gear removal operations:

• Ghost Fishing Foundation (Netherlands): Trains technical divers in ghost net removal protocols; has recovered hundreds of nets globally
• Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI): World Animal Protection's coalition of fishing industry, NGO, and government stakeholders addressing ghost gear at a policy level
• Project AWARE's Dive Against Debris: Citizen science program recording and removing debris on recreational dives globally

Removing ghost nets from active reef systems requires training — a net tangled in a reef at 25 metres, under current, presents significant entanglement risk to the diver attempting removal.

Upstream Solutions

Gear marking requirements, improved gear design (biodegradable escape panels in traps), and financial compensation programs for fishers who report lost gear and return recovered gear are among the upstream interventions with the strongest evidence base.