Ghost Nets Haunt Ocean for Years - Oceana USA
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May 7, 2009

Ghost Nets Haunt Ocean for Years

There’s a specter in the ocean, and it’s not the spookfish. A new report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) reports that lost or abandoned nets (“ghost nets”) in the oceans are a growing threat to fish, sea turtles, whales, dolphins, and other marine life because they can continue “fishing” for years or even decades.According to the study, about 640,000 tonnes of discarded fishing gear gets added to the oceans yearly, or 10 percent of the world total of marine debris. Wow.Ghost nets, which are often driftnets or gill nets that have broken loose, are contributing to the problem of bycatch, which Oceana is campaigning to stop.