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Lost or discarded fishing nets present a grave threat to marine life. But teams of volunteer divers are determined to retrieve this ‘ghost g

Ghost fishing gear – meaning abandoned, lost or discarded nets, pots or lines – is particularly problematic because it continues to catch marine life. Crabs, rays, fish and even birds or larger mammals such as seals and dolphins get trapped in the gear, where they inevitably die and become bait for more marine life. And so the cycle continues.

According to a 2016 United Nations report, each fishing vessel is likely to lose 1% of its fishing gear per year. More staggering still is the stat that for in every square kilometre of fishing ground there are likely to be 4.4km of ghost nets.

Ghost Fishing UK was set up in 2015 by Dr Richard Walker, a scientist and technical dive instructor. Walker was inspired by his time joining Dutch divers from the now defunct Ghost Fishing Foundation, to clean up ghost nets in the North Sea, in Croatia and from first world war wrecks in Scapa Flow, Orkney.

It currently has more volunteers than vacancies. [Ghost Fishing UK] estimates there are 300 on the waiting list, drawn to the charity through word of mouth among the dive community. The selection process is rigorous, with technical dive skills prioritised. Divers tend to self-fund their trips, though the organisation also receives support from private donations and from conservation organisations including the Sussex Wildlife Trust, World Animal Protection and the Sea LifeTrust. People can help by donating to support the charity’s work, and by reporting ghost gear via a form on its website.

Tom Collinson is senior advocacy manager at Blue Ventures, a charity that seeks to restore the world’s oceans and improve the livelihoods of fishing communities. He is enthusiastically supportive of the work done by Ghost Fishing UK and other likeminded organisations, such as the Scottish Creel Fishermen’s Federation and the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. “Ghost fishing gear presents a unique and complex challenge and if it weren’t for these dedicated groups, our reefs and wrecks would be festering under blankets of nylon and dead marine life,” he says.

But he also cautions that benefits these groups bring are tiny relative to “industrial destructive fishing practices and particularly bottom trawling”. Critics liken the latter to using a bulldozer and then a vacuum cleaner on the ocean floor.