Ghost gear- A marine problem with wide ranging impacts

Ghost gear is a global problem that is estimated to kill between 5-30 percent of harvestable fish stocks as well as incidentally harming or killing all manner of marine life including whales, seals and sea turtles. An estimated 600,000+ tons of fishing gear annually is lost as a result of inclement weather; entanglement with other gear, debris, underwater obstacles; or purposely discarded. The modern phenomenon of long-lived ghost gear remains a hazard for centuries because it is made of forever plastics. It impacts marine life, navigation, and fishing operations as well as the health and economic well-being of humans.

What is ghost gear?

The term ghost is defined as an invisible presence that lives forever. Similarly, fishing gear that remains unseen and long-lived below the surface of the ocean is called ghost gear. Because much of the fishing gear used these days is made of plastic, a synthetic or semi-synthetic material that doesn’t decompose or break down into smaller pieces for hundreds of years, the use of the term ghost gear is appropriately descriptive.  

Ghost gear seriously impacts the marine environment, its inhabitants, and humans. As an example, it is estimated that between 5-30 percent of global harvestable fish stocks are killed annually by ghost gear. This fact alone demonstrates that ghost gear is a major threat to global food security and the livelihoods of coastal communities.

How does fishing gear become ghost gear?

Fishing gear becomes ghost gear for many reasons. It may be lost in a storm, snagged on the sea bottom, entangled in other fishing gear or with vessels, intentionally be discarded or break free due to material failure or human error. Depending on the type of gear that is lost, it may float or sink to the bottom and becomes a hazard that is dangerous to both animals and humans. Animals may experience injury and even death. Because decaying carcasses get caught in the gear and these attract predators and scavengers, the gear poses dangers on a recurring basis. Think about the number of times this could happen!

How much of a problem is ghost gear?

Ghost gear is both a local, regional and a global problem. In Maine, where there are more than 4,000 working lobstermen who bring in 82 percent of all U.S. lobster landings, it is estimated that 10 percent of all working lobster traps are lost annually. This amounts to about 280,000 traps. In 2021, the Ocean Conservancy’s Global Ghost Gear Initiative ® in collaboration with the Gulf of Maine’s Lobstermen’s Foundation retrieved more than 4,000 pounds of lost and abandoned fishing gear out of Casco Bay. Casco Bay is one out of 1,270 bays in Maine and the aforementioned retrieval was a singular event. This means there are lots more unretrieved ghost gear along Maine’s coast.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), over 350 marine animal species have been found entangled in marine debris. One study indicated that all seven species of sea turtles, one third of seabird species, and nearly forty percent of marine mammals, including seals, whales, otters, and even polar bears have been found entangled in ghost gear. Another study cited, conducted by the Ocean Conservancy and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), rated ghost gears as the most harmful marine debris to wildlife. Ghost gear was the highest rated risk for entanglement followed by plastic bags and balloons. 

Ghost gear has been cited as a serious problem for the survival of many marine animals. The vaquita, as an example, is the most endangered of them all. The vaquita is the world’s smallest and most critically endangered marine mammal. It is believed that there are fewer than 30 animals. A Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) project in the Gulf of California was undertaken specifically to help save the vaquita. The ghost gear project involved locating and removing gillnets from the habitat where vaquita are found.

A gillnet is a special type of net that hangs in the water like a wall made of mesh. The mesh size is designed to catch fish of a certain size. As a fish swims through the mesh, the gills on its head gets caught. It struggles to free itself. As it struggles it becomes increasingly entangled. The mesh is indiscriminate, capturing both the intended catch and also unwanted similarly sized animals. In the Gulf of California the gill nets are illegally used to catch the totoaba. Like the vaquita the fish is a critically endangered species. The totoaba is sold in China for use in traditional medicines. Because the vaquita and totoaba are of similar size they both get entangled in the nets. The illegal use of gillnets and their abandonment at the end of the season pose a significant threat to the vaquita’s survival.

Is there a solution?

Storms, gear malfunction, and accidents are expected hazards of a fishers job and, for the most part, difficult to control. The dangers associated with ghost gear are recognized and in some places fishers have stepped up to be a solution. They recognize that their fishing is a major contributor to the problem. The problem is delt with on local, regional, and even global levels. In 2015, a global alliance was formed to tackle the problem of ghost gear. The Global Ghost Gear Initiative is an alliance of fishing industry, academia, academia, governments, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations. Each member of the alliance plays a role in helping to mitigate the problem of ghost gear. The ultimate goal is to remove ghost gear from the marine environment. The removal of the gear makes the ocean safer for everyone that uses or lives in the ocean.

The key elements of the solution are education about the hazards of ghost gear, collection of end-of-life gear, and recovery and upcycling of lost gear. In Nigeria, for example, Fishing Net Gains Nigeria (F-NGN) has worked to educate locals about ghost gear and build support for an initiative to address the problem. F-NGN has identified and worked with local stakeholders and government representatives to develop best practices for addressing the problem. They took it a step further by including the community in upcycling the recovered gear. The organization held craft workshops to teach the community how to design crafts from end-of-life fishing gear which becomes a welcome source of income.

Another example is Steveston Harbour in Canada’s province of British Columbia. Here a worn out gear collection program also serves as a recycling program. The end-of-life gear traditionally was discarded and buried in landfills. A more ecofriendly solution resulted when a partnership between a global synthetic fiber manufacturer, a carpet tile manufacturer, and the fishing industry joined forces. A recycling program for old fishing nets and rope provided the basis of a program that “regenerated” the old nets into nylon which later was upcycled into carpet tiles. 

The location of another inspired program is in Chile.  It was initiated by three friends whose intention was to reduce the amount of plastic waste entering the ocean. They established a company “focused on recycling plastic waste into innovative products; with the profits from selling these products used to sustain the waste collection programmes.”  The initiative  launched a buyback program of old nets and the end product of the upcycled nets were skateboard deck.

Once gear is lost in the sea, the important work of recovery is necessary in order to improve the health of the marine ecosystem, protect human health and livelihoods and wildlife. The recovery work is done in many ways and at many levels. On occasion it involves divers who are trained to clean up local dive sites and other times they are professional divers who assist in the recovery of lost gear. At the other end of the cleanup spectrum are large scale efforts that involve boats equipped with grapples, cranes to hoist the recovered gear on to a dock, and trucks to move the gear to its final destination. In the Gulf of Maine, for example, an initiative recovered lobster gear and delivered it to a wharf for sorting and processing. Lobster traps that were in reasonable condition and could be identifiable were returned to their owners. The remainder was sold for scrap metal and the proceeds reinvested for future recovery efforts.   

Bottom line

Ghost gear is a global problem that has serious implications for the ocean, her creatures, and the humans who rely on the ocean for nourishment, income, and so much more. In the past lost gear was literally and figuratively viewed as a sunk cost. These days there are rising costs of leaving the lost gear at sea. Ghost gear entangles marine life, boats, and actively used fishing gear. It is leading to the endangerment of species, reducing catches, damaging boats, and injuring fishers and their gear. It is a problem of enormous proportions and should continue to be addressed and creative uses programs and end-products encouraged..