Rural and Environment

Signing up to Global Ghost Gear Initiative

December 21, 2017 by Digital Communications Team No Comments | Category Environment, Marine

The Scottish Government has signed up to a global initiative aimed at reducing the amount of fishing gear lost in oceans and harming the marine environment.

An estimated 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is abandoned, lost or discarded around the world in oceans every year. Animals such as fish, whales, turtles and seabirds can become entangled in the ‘ghost gear’ and may either drown within minutes or suffer long, slow deaths lasting months or even years with debilitating wounds, infection and starvation. This ‘ghost gear’ is often made of long-lasting plastics and so can continue to harm the marine environment for generations.

The Scottish Government has now signed up to the Global Ghost Gear Initiative which works with the fishing industry, academics, Governments and non-government organisations to come up with solutions to address the worldwide problem which contributes to 10% of global marine litter.

Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said:

“We recognise the importance of tackling marine litter which is why we included actions on marine industry waste in our Marine Litter Strategy.

“Over the last few years we have been working with KIMO and the Scottish Fishermen’s Federation to coordinate the strategy’s work and are proud of the efforts of our fishing fleet which, through KIMO’s Fishing for Litter, has retrieved 1200 tonnes of litter from the seabed since 2005, including ghost gear.

“Signing up to this initiative demonstrates our support for global action to tackle the problem of ghost gear in order to prevent the needless entanglement of wildlife in the future.”

We know boats fishing illegally often lose or dump nets and other equipment – and it’s killing sea animals. Now it’s time for the world’s navies to become part of the solution! #Seachange #Ghostgear pic.twitter.com/0vkfyuDv0A

— World Animal Protection ANZ (@MoveTheWorldAU) December 14, 2017

Arabelle Bentley from KIMO said:

“KIMO is an official supporter of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. Our Fishing for Litter programme is a simple and very effective way to remove litter from the sea. The success of the project is down to the active participation of Scottish fishermen from 210 vessels and 18 Scottish harbours. The project has a real effect in reducing the amount of litter in our seas and in turn reduces the associated economic and environmental costs to us all.”

Chiara Vitali, UK Wildlife Campaign Manager, World Animal Protection which is behind the Global Ghost Gear Initiative said:

“We are delighted that Scotland has committed to join the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. More than 640,000 tonnes of fishing gear is lost or abandoned in the ocean every year, and it can continue to catch and kill animals for hundreds of years, causing untold suffering. We hope that this new announcement will encourage other industry and government representatives to join our effort to rid the sea of ghost gear and create safer, cleaner environments for our marine wildlife.”

Tags: marine environment

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