Hi Everyone
I'd like to introduce our charity which you may have heard of already. We are about to send out a press release relating to one of our recent missions (this week) where we found 4 cormorants that had succumbed to a lost fishing net.
Here is a sneak preview of our press release. We would very much like to work with the RSPB as we have quite a data set reporting dead sea birds as a result of Ghost Fishing.
We are happy to answer any questions you may have and please, keep up the great work.
Best wishes
Christine Grosart ; Trustee Ghost Fishing UK
Images of cormorants in ghost net
Charity shocked at discovering drowned sea birds.
The ocean conservation charity Ghost Fishing UK discovered FOUR drowned sea birds, identified as cormorants, caught up in a lost fishing net in Lyme Bay.
The charity of volunteer scuba divers responds to reports of lost fishing gear known as ‘ghost gear’ from divers and fishermen, by surveying and then removing the lost gear which continues to fish, unseen.
Lost fishing gear is a global problem, with an estimated 640,000 lost into the oceans each year. Locally, it can have a significant impact on the local wildlife, ocean habitats and it’s not just fish that succumb to the hidden threat.
Fred Nunn, trustee, and operations officer for the charity explains; “We received reports from Jessica Hannah at Teign dive Centre of a gill net across the wreck of the Galicia, so we quickly put a team together. We were worried about the weather being near the end of season, but we found the net and the trapped animals.”
The divers soon came across four dead cormorants. The diving sea birds were tangled in a lost gill net which was strewn across the breadth of the wreck. The divers also came across a trapped pollack and Ballan wrasse which were both still alive and freed from the net. Edible crabs and lobsters were among the trapped sea life and in total, 11 animals were freed but another 8 had died in the ghost net.
The charity raises money from public donations and campaigns to clean up lost fishing gear from UK waters. This year Ghost Fishing UK won the Sustainability Award at the Fishing News Awards in Aberdeen for their work and cooperation with the fishing community.
Trustee and diver Christine Grosart said “We are slowly gaining the trust of the fishing community, but we still have a long way to go. Our charity is not anti-fishing, and we want the fishing community to prosper, whilst maintaining a healthy ecosystem. We encourage engagement from the fishermen, and we really want them to tell us when they lose nets like this, so that we can remove them from the sea much sooner and stop the ghost fishing cycle in its tracks”.
Ghost Fishing UK has an online reporting system for both divers and fishermen to report any losses which they can do anonymously.
“In the case of lost strings of pots, we can often get these back to their owners” Christine explains “But in the case of nets, these are often too badly damaged to be used again, so we get them recycled where we can.”
It is generally accepted that fishing gear is not lost deliberately and is often the result of storms, snags on the seabed or being run over by other vessels.
Fishermen can report any lost nets to the charity here: www.ghostfishing.co.uk/fishermans-reporting
Jessica Hannah from Teign Diving Centre was very happy to welcome the charity for their first mission on board Seaquest;
“The Galicia is one of our most regularly used dive sites and is full of life. It was heart-breaking to find a ghost net hanging over the wreck and entangling everything that crossed its path - a real killer of a net.” Said Hannah.
“Having Ghost Fishing UK out to clear this away, we’re so thankful for their help with this. Great to know the net can’t harm anything else down there, and we’re all so pleased to have had such a professional organisation out to sort it out.”
You can follow the work of Ghost Fishing UK on their YouTube Channel, blogs and across all social media platforms. All donations to the charity go directly into paying for dive boats so the volunteers can continue cleaning up even more ghost gear.
About Ghost Fishing UK
Ghost Fishing UK is a registered charity, established in 2015. Ghost Fishing UK is dedicated to removing Abandoned, Lost and Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) or 'Ghost Gear'.
The purpose is to remove, where practicable, potentially lethal entanglement hazards to marine life and scuba divers from the marine environment.
The organisation consists of volunteer scuba divers, with extensive training in advanced diving practices specifically in relation to minimising impact on the environment.
Ghost Fishing UK objectives
- Survey dive sites and keep a detailed and current log of ALDFG sightings by divers. This reporting system is live and collecting data. The purpose of the survey is to collate information about the site, ensuring that the activities of Ghost Fishing UK will not harm the environment and only benefit the site. Ghost Fishing UK does not remove nor disturb items that may be used as a habitat to species reliant on them.
- Train selected scuba divers in the safe working practices of removing ALDFG from wrecks, reefs, and the seabed. This includes use of cutting tools, deployment of lift bags, recovery of
ALDFG and safe team working practices. Ghost Fishing UK wrote the first training course of its kind in the world.
- Risk assess each mission and remove ghost gear from the surveyed site. This includes Trawling nets, Monofilament net and line, Nylon nets and lines, lost pots, Creels, Dredges and similar man-made entanglement hazards to marine life or divers which have been designed to trap and snare marine life. Active and buoyed fishing gear will not be touched.
- Ghost Fishing UK aims to avoid damage to existing flora or fauna; that we do not move, remove, or damage any part of the wreck, structure, or reef; that we do not use any machinery underwater; Embedded or active fishing gear will be left alone, and the seabed will be left undisturbed.
- Ghost Fishing UK aims to recycle recovered ALDFG wherever possible, in collaboration with partners.
- Ghost Fishing UK provides education to the public and interested organisations by way
of media coverage, images, film, talks at events, schools and outreach projects and
conferences.
- Ghost Fishing UK engages with and supports the British fishing industry, with the aim to
work together to find a solution to the Ghost Gear problem.
Affiliations
Ghost Fishing UK works closely with the Sealife Trust, Seasearch, Cornish Plastic Pollution Coalition.
Facts
Ghost Fishing UK wrote and produced the world's first ever diving course for ghost gear removal and now has over 70 volunteer members trained to clean up the ocean safely.
Ghost Fishing UK is an award-winning charity, with the Best Plastic Campaign Award at the Plastic Free Awards 2021 and this year, achieving the Sustainability Award at the Fishing News awards in Aberdeen.
Links to other media
BBC One Show
https://youtu.be/S0aaNgvl_tY
BBC Spotlight
https://youtu.be/eDnuo7m4tec
https://youtu.be/lJS6jFenXoY
Ghost Fishing UK webinar
https://youtu.be/wsgcqsXb0_4
Images (please read the Media Policy)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/147582826@N07/
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/ghostfishinguk/
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/GhostFishingUK/
Twitter
https://twitter.com/ghost_fishinguk?lang=en