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Removing harmful lost and abandoned fishing gear called 'ghost gear' from our oceans, recording and freeing any trapped animals and creating a means of recycling the lost ghost gear here in the UK. Training more scuba divers in the citizen science of recording and removing ghost gear from the sea.
Categories
Beneficiaries
Situation
The United Nations estimate that 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is lost in the seas every year. This fishing gear continues to catch marine animals, which then become “bait” for more marine animals. The fishing gear is frequently made of plastic based materials and therefore can potentially continue to “ghost fish” for many hundreds of years before probably breaking down into micro-plastics. We want to work alongside the fishing industry to help solve this problem.
Solution
Train more divers to survey and remove ghost gear. The more divers around the UK we have, the bigger the impact. Work towards a solution for recycling plastics from the fishing industry as no such facility exists in the UK that can handle old, dirty nets. By working with engineers and the plastics industry we can create a facility to do this. Increase public outreach and school education, driving public opinion on ocean plastics and working towards more sustainable fisheries.
