‘Ghost Fishing’ is what fishing gear does when it has been lost, dumped or abandoned. Nets, long lines, fish traps or any man made contraptions designed to catch fish or marine organisms are considered capable of ghost fishing when unattended, and without anyone profiting from the catches, they are affecting already depleted commercial fish stocks

1. GHOST FISHING
Ashish sahu

2. What is ghost fishing?
• Ghost fishing is a term that describes what happens when derelict fishing gear
‘continues to fish’.
• Derelict fishing gear referred to as “ghost gear” is any discarded , lost, or
abandoned, fishing gear in marine environment.
• This gear continues to fish and trap animals, entangle and potentially kill marine
life, smother habitat, and act as a hazard to navigation.
• These nets , often nearly invisible in the dim light, can be left tangled in reefs or
open sea

3. • The nets entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, dugongs, crocodiles, sea
birds, crabs and other creatures including human divers.
• The problem is not just nets but ghost gear which continue to catch fish even
after abandoned. eg: traps , pots etc.
• These gears are also known as ‘silent killers’
• Nets will often be taken by oceanic currents and travel huge distances

4. • This means that their detrimental effects can be prevalent far from their original
point of entry into the water.
• They will entangle many threatened animals along the way.
• Coral reefs can also be destroyed and fouled by nets causing further loss of life.

5. • The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimate that 640,000
tons of fishing gear are left in the world’s oceans each year.
• World Animal Protection estimates that it kills at least 136,000 seals, sea lions
and large whales each year, in addition to countless birds, turtles, fish and
other species entanglement in ghost fishing.
• Although it is impossible to get an accurate global number, a rough estimate
is that less than 10% of marine
debris by volume is DFG

6. • ACCORDING TO UNEP, GHOST FISHING CAN:
- interfere with fishing and damage fishing boats and gear
- block cooling water intakes in power stations
- interfere with ships, causing accidents at sea
- damage local economies by contaminating fish catches and driving away
tourists
- cost a significant amount to clean up.

7. Impacts of ghost fishing
• Part of the global marine debris issue that impacts marine organisms and the
environment.
• kill target and non-target organisms, including endangered
and protected species
• causes damage to underwater habitats such as coral reefs and benthic fauna;
and contributing to marine pollution.

8. ECONOMIC IMPACTS
• severe economic consequences on the commercial fishing
• tourism industries
• costs incurred to restore damaged marine environments.
• costs of replacing lost gear
• costs of buying new gear to comply with new regulations
• decreased populations of target organisms due to mortality in DFG

9. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
• Ghost fishing is harmful to marine life directly – through entanglement and
ingestion – and indirectly, through habitat destruction and disruption of their
ecosystem.
• These nets entangle fish ,dolphins, sea turtles ,sharks ,dugons, crocodiles,
seabirds, crabs and creatures.
• They damage coral reefs and seaweed ecosystems.

10. GEARS CONTRIBUTING..
The most common types gears contributing are:
• Gillnets
• Pots/Traps
• Bottom trawl nets
• Longlines
Gillnets and pots have been the most documented gear types to date regarding ghost
fishing

11. Factors contributing to ghost net
• Factors that cause gear to become DFG include:
1. Environmental: poor weather conditions ,storms, wave action or currents,
sedimentation, ice cover, deep-water conditions
2. Gear conflict: entanglement with other vessels or bottom topography such as
reefs or rocky bottoms
3. Gear condition: breaks loose/cut loose (intent can be accidental or
deliberate) due to old age/overuse;
4.Gear overuse: too much gear being used

12. 5.. Inappropriate disposal at sea
6.construction of fishing gear transition from natural, biodegradable materials
such as cotton and wood to plastic monofilament and vinyl-coated steel.
• Although these materials last longer, which is advantageous for the
fishermen, but donot readily degrade and therefore prolong the potential for
ghost fishing and increase the total amount of marine debris.

13. Measures to control ghost fishing
• Multiple programs to promote onshore collection, disposal, and recycling of used gear.
• Initiatives to create better types of gear or methods of fishing.
• Increase awareness of ghost fishing and its issue as marine debris.
• Improved relationships between industry, government and non-governmental organizations
to promote change and better management of DFG
• Detailed information regarding ghost fishing and DFG (e.g., regulations, compliance rates,
ghost catch rates)
• Future efforts to focus on standardizing field methods and metrics.

14. • Improvement of gear design to reduce likelihood of failure or snagging.
• Spatial zoning of fisheries to avoid gear conflict and increase navigational awareness
of gear in water.
• Reduced fishing effort (lower soak times, limiting fishing time, less gear per boat).
• Reducing ghost fishing efficiency of gear (improve biodegradable aspects for release
or disabling of lost gear over time).
• Gear marking, integrated GPS to allow for immediate recovery, port or state
monitoring, and inspection of gear.
• Provide affordable port disposal facilities and incentives to discourage
improper disposal at sea.

15. Problems in management
• It is difficult to know exact numbers due to incomplete reporting of amount
of gear actually lost.
• Difficulty in monitoring or retrieving DFG.
• No proper awareness among fishermen.
• Difficulty in using new technologies in a large scale as clean up efforts are
expensive.