Ghost Nets: Silently wreaking havoc in our oceans
The #NationalMuseumPH joins today’s observance of the International Coastal Clean-up Day (ICC). Ghost nets are not supernatural events happening in the ocean, but legitimately scary. A ghost net is a fishing net that was lost or abandoned in the ocean. It can travel vast distances from their point of origin.
Every year, an estimated 640,000 to 800,000 tons of fishing gear is lost at sea and exerts an uncertain impact on marine species contributing to 20% of ocean plastic globally. Discarded fishing nets are made up of plastic, which breaks up into microplastics over time and ends up in the digestive tracts of marine life, which is hazardous for animals and humans alike. It not only entraps fish, they also entangle sea turtles, dolphins and porpoises, birds, sharks, seals, and more.
Discarded fishing nets left to drift continue to trap everything in its path unattended for years or even decades, killing huge numbers of commercially valuable and threatened species, presenting a major problem for the health of our oceans and marine life. These marine animals are often unable to detect them by sight or sonar, and swim into the nets. Our coral reefs are also not spared from ghost nets, which render them exposed to disease, breakage, and blockage of much-needed sunlight.
Ghost nets represent an ongoing connection between humanity’s management of its marine resources and ocean health. One solution to address this problem is to encourage fishing communities to recycle worn-out nets and traps. There are NGO’s that profit from recycling ghost nets into carpet tiles, sustainable skateboards, famous games like Jenga and frisbee, sunglasses, clothings, nylon yarn and others.
As stewards of the sea, we need to follow the 3 R’s – Reuse, Redo, and Recycle our everyday trash and not throw them in the streets and drainage canals because it always ends up in the sea.
Text by the NMP Zoology Division / Images by Roger Dolorosa and Christopher Paleracio
© National Museum of the Philippines (2022)
