Ghost nets aren’t a paranormal phenomenon, but they are genuinely terrifying.
When we think of the biggest culprits of plastic pollution wreaking havoc in our oceans, it might be plastic bottles, toothbrushes, or disposable coffee cups that springs to mind. And yet, the damage done by ghost fishing nets drifting through our seas remains largely hidden.
What are ghost nets?
Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been forgotten, lost or discarded at sea. They’re one particularly unpardonable part of the global ghost fishing problem and the most renowned culprit in the wider realm of forgotten fishing gear, e.g. traps, nets, rods and buoys.
Forgotten fishing gear is estimated to account for around 10% of all litter in our oceans and is one of the top contender of plastic pollution. While the general issue of oceanic pollution is inexcusable, fishing nets are particularly egregious. They continue serving the purpose they were designed for, long after they’ve been discarded – trapping marine wildlife. Once they’ve been lost in the depths of our seas, there’s no escaping their devastating consequences.
Ghost Gear: A global problem
Ghost nets are a global issue. Oceanic currents carry the gear through the seas, devastating any and all marine ecosystems that cross their path. The gear often meanders far from its origins, ending up anywhere from coral reefs to distant beaches. But beyond drifting far from home, why exactly is the ghost net issue so severe?
Smothering of coral reefs
Ghost nets pose a serious problem for the protectors of our coastlines: coral reefs. Just this year, 43 tons of ghost nets were removed from a single coral reef in Hawaii – the equivalent to three and a half double-decker buses.
While being tumbled around the sea at the hands of oceanic currents, they can catch on to coral, breaking, abrading and damaging the reefs. But the nets can also catch a lot more than just fish. Due to their transboundary nature, the nets often carry with them invasive diseases that are deadly to these precious ecological hotspots.
The very survival of coral reefs is at risk when ghost nets come into the mix. They need sunlight to survive, but these heavy piles of manufactured waste are smothering the reefs, blocking out sunlight and essential oxygen.
A silent killer
Just because a net is no longer serving a purpose to fishers doesn’t mean it’s stopped working. After being dumped in our seas, the nets continue to trap everything in their path, presenting a major issue for the health of marine life.
It’s estimated that in the UK alone at least one large sea mammal dies every week from being trapped in a ghost net. The nets restrict marine wildlife, entangling, injuring and killing those caught in their path. The fate that falls upon these animals is certainly not a deserved one – many remain trapped anywhere from weeks to years on end.
When a single net can unintentionally capture hundreds of animals, it’s no surprise that many believe, ghost nets are the most harmful form of ocean pollution.
The plastic part…
It often feels like all the problems in our oceans inevitably lead back to plastics. Make no mistake, this eerie feeling won’t be abated by taking a closer look at fishing nets.
For centuries, fishering folk used natural materials such as hemp and linen to create nets. But since the 1960s, our uncompromising plastic problem has woven its way into the making of nets. Nylon is a stiff and sturdy engineered plastic. It’s this very stiff and sturdiness that hooked humans onto plastics to begin with that’s now bringing devastating consequences deep in the sea.
A single nylon-based fishing net can take up to 600 years to break down. And then, they’re never gone for good. They break down into smaller pieces that remain just as dangerous for marine wildlife.
Approximately 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of ghost fishing nets, some as large as football fields. Given the scale of the global fishing industry, ghost nets are one of the largest proponents of plastic pollution, wildlife devastation and ecosystem collapse.
We need to act!
By 2050, there will be more plastic in the sea than fish. And lo and behold, a huge amount of this plastic will be attributable to the worst kind – ghost fishing nets. The problem of forgotten, abandoned and lost nets needs to be addressed.
It’s not enough to fight the symptoms. We need to dig deeper and tackle the root cause of the issue. Rather than spending our time on costly clean-up jobs, we need to prevent ghost nets from being discarded in our seas to begin with.