Marine Organisms Fouling on Ghost Nets in the Sounio Marine Protected Area (Greece)

Ghost nets are the result of fishing nets ending up at sea by fishing vessels during operations, repairs, accidental loss, and from aquaculture activities. This is a major threat to the marine environment due to the entrapment of marine species, which often leads to the mortality of important species, the alteration of the marine benthic habitat, and the release of microplastics. In the current study, the authors conducted underwater clean-up activities in the marine protected area of Sounio in Greece (NATURA2000) to identify, evaluate whether they can be removed, and remove ghost nets. A total of 1200 Kg of ghost nets was removed within one year, with 68 different species reported to have colonized the nets. The reported groups were Mollusca, Porifera, Chordata, Arthropoda, Echinodermata, Bryozoa, Ochrophyta, Tracheophyta, Rhodophyta, Cnidaria, Chlorophyta, and Annelida. The species were not listed as threatened by the IUCN conservation status, while 86% were native, and 14% were invasive in the Mediterranean Sea. The current work presents the need to expand research efforts in the field of underwater plastic pollution, implement monitoring campaigns to a greater extent in the study area, and perform an assessment before the removal of ghost nets.