Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear or ‘ghost gear’ contributes substantially to global marine pollution responsible for wide-reaching environmental and socioeconomic impacts.
Until now there has not been a clear global picture of the quantity and type of fishing gear lost worldwide.
Using data from 68 studies published between 1975 and 2017, researchers have produced the first global estimate of commercial fishing gear losses in our oceans.
“The study estimates that 6 percent of all fishing nets, 9 percent of all traps, and 29 percent of all lines are lost or discarded into our oceans each year,” explains Kelsey Richardson, a Ph.D. student from CSIRO’s Marine Debris Team, who led the study.
When fishing gear becomes marine pollution, it has significant consequences for marine life and habitats and can be a navigation hazard.
Fishing gear can take hundreds of years to breakdown.
The study, published in Fish and Fisheries , also found that reporting of commercial fishing gear lost at sea has increased through time.
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