Ghost Gear: The Silent Predator in Our Oceans

Introduction Today, an estimated 4.6 million fishing vessels operate across various ocean basins, utilizing increasingly sophisticated fishing gears designed to maximize catch efficiency and enhance yields. All plastic in the oceans can trap, entangle, smother, or kill animals (Barbara, 2021). However, there is one particular type of plastic pollution that is especially deadly because it is specifically designed to catch and kill marine wildlife: Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, or so-called ghost gear (Fig. 1). Abandoned fishing gear is fishing gear over which an operator/owner has control, and which could be retrieved by that owner/operator but is deliberately left at sea as a result of force majeure or other unforeseen circumstances. Lost fishing gear fishing gear over which the owner/operator has accidentally lost control and that cannot be located and/or retrieved by owner/operator Discarded fishing gear fishing gear that is released at sea without any attempt for further control or recovery by the owner/operator (Sala & Richardson, 2023). The group with the highest level of entanglement in study was sea turtles. Except for Loggerheads, all other sea turtles are negatively affected by ALDFG in Indian waters (Duncan et al., 2017). Trawl and purse seine nets are less commonly lost and tend to be partial losses of torn nets. Average annual losses in terms of net numbers per vessel are shown in Fig. 2 (fragments/pieces).