Yearly, 640,000 to 800,000 metric tonnes of fishnet are discarded in the ocean. Based on the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), obsolete fishing nets, sometimes known as "ghost nets," make up approximately 10% of all marine debris.
Plastic pollution now affects 45% of marine mammal species, 21% of seabird species, and 100% of sea turtle species worldwide, as reported by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Plastic pollution also severely impacts crustaceans and fish meant for human consumption, posing a danger to the global food supply, based on compiled data from WWF.
For many decades, dealing with obsolete fishing nets has been a significant source of stress. Fishers occasionally dropped these at the ocean, or they could be taken to shore and thrown away. For the first time, obsolete trawling nets are being repurposed in the UK, owing to a Keep Britain Tidy campaign, as reported by BBC News.
Fishing Nets Recycling Campaign
The 'Ocean Recovery Project,' financially backed by the Scottish Power Foundation, will be implemented in harbors around Scotland and the North-East of England to safeguard marine biodiversity and ecosystems, which are critical in addressing the climate issue.
This should focus on the problem of lost - or "ghost" - fishing nets, which, according to Greenpeace studies, account for almost 10% of the plastic garbage in our seas. Such misplaced nets often entangle coastal ecosystems and the ocean bottom, causing seafloor destruction and, in some cases, the mortality of numerous marine life.
Although lost, the netting remains to trap marine life, including crabs, rays, fish, animals, and sometimes even birds. These also serve as bait for bigger animals such as seals, dolphins, and even whales, as stated by a British media, The Scotsman.
Turtles are stuck in a fishing net, one of the main pollutants in the oceans.
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Global Plastic Pollution
Most of such plastic waste in the water originates on the mainland. It primarily derives through domestic and commercial rubbish, which drifts from trash cans and disposal sites into waterways or sewers and finally into the oceans.
As reported by Greenpeace UK, human clothing contributes to plastic waste throughout the water. Whenever humans wash synthetic garments, tiny "microplastics" leak into the drain. A typical load of clothes may discharge 700,000 plastic particle fibers smaller than a millimeter in length further into the water. Because they are too tiny to be screened, particles gather on streams and rivers or run out to oceans.
Human activities at sea, particularly fishing, account for around 20% of the plastic in the ocean. Following a Greenpeace estimate from 2019, 640,000 tonnes of "ghost gear" - deserted, misplaced, or dumped fishing equipment - emerges and is left within the ocean annually. Every year that equates to the plastic equivalent of 50,000 double-decker buses.
Greenpeace UK also stated that there remains a long journey to go, but striving to reduce solitary plastic from purchases - and innovative methods to repurpose and refill the materials you wind up acquiring - is a terrific starting point.
Humans can prevent plastic pollution from harming sea species and humans by eliminating plastics wherever possible and pressuring the government and plastic-producing industries to address the issue at its origin.
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