They're the zombies of the deep. Un-dead nets that keep fishing even after they're lost by people and presumed dead. They're bad, they're deadly, and they're everywhere. Fishing gear is designed to catch fish, and it keeps working even if lost at sea. How bad is the problem? Pretty bad, according to a new report from the United Nations Environment Group.
In some fisheries, 25% to 50% of fishing gear can be lost each year. That equals a lot of zombie fishing gear. It's the real life ocean zombie plague, yikes. Tweet
2 comments:
This is a very big problem and it even wreaks havoc on the giants of the sea as well. The Marine Mammal Center performed a necropsy on a sperm whale that washed ashore in Point Reyes, CA, and discovered more than 450 pounds of marine debris in its stomach. The swallowed debris included fishing nets, mesh, braided rope, plastic bags, etc.
Scott-
This is obviously a very big problem and with 25 percent of the oceans in this world, needing a reduction to revive populations, something has to be done. But what is viable option to remove the nets? Obviously a great solution would be to find out why nets and other fishing gear are being lost and start from there.
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