fbpixel ghost nets Archives - Mission Blue

Blog Archives
Rescuing Sea Turtles from Ghost Nets

Mission Blue is thrilled to partner with the Olive Ridley Project in the Maldives! The following is a guest post all about their amazing work:
Every year millions of animals including whales, dolphins, turtles and birds are mutilated and killed by lost, abandoned or discarded fishing nets, otherwise known as “ghost nets.” Entangled animals either drown within minutes or endure long, slow deaths lasting months or even years, suffering from debilitating wounds, infection and starvation. Oceanic currents provide pathways for ghost nets to travel huge distances from their points of origin, often accumulating in various hotspots around the world.
The Olive Ridley Project (ORP) was founded in the Maldives by biologist Martin Stelfox in response to the alarming number of olive ridley sea turtles found entangled in ghost gear.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

Leave a comment
Ghost Gear – A Scary Matter

Having removed tons of abandoned fishing gear throughout southern California over the last 11 years, Ocean Defenders Alliance (ODA) recently launched Operation Deep Sweep, which represents an exciting new phase for us.
In late August of this year, we moved our two boats from our homeport in Los Angeles County up to Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard, CA.  As a part of this operation, we are now removing ghost gear from the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuaries (CINMS!)
Plans in place to protect and preserve
The Channel Islands are a chain of eight islands located off the coast of Ventura, California that received National Marine Sanctuary (NMS) status in 1980.  ODA applied for, and was granted, a permit that allows us to go into this protected area and remove any hazardous man-made debris we find.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

3 Comments
Ghost Nets, among the greatest killers in our oceans…

Ghost Fishing is what fishing gear does when it has been lost, dumped or abandoned. Imagine a fishing net that gets snagged on a reef of a wreck and gets detached from the fishing vessel. Nets, long lines, fish traps or any man made contraptions designed to catch fish or marine organisms are considered capable of ghost fishing when unattended. And without anyone profiting from the catches, affecting already depleted commercial fish stocks. Caught fish die and in turn attract scavengers which will get caught in that same net, thus creating a vicious circle.
Ghost nets are among the greatest killers in our oceans, and not only because of their numbers. Literally hundreds of kilometers of nets get lost every year and due to the nature of the materials used to produce these nets they can and will keep fishing for multiple decades, possibly even for several centuries.…

Posted in Partner Stories |

6 Comments
Swedish Filmmakers expose unseen threats in Baltic Sea

Today we’d like to introduce and welcome our new Mission Blue partner, Leofilm. It’s headed up by award winning Swedish filmmakers Joakim Odelberg and Emma Watson, who are dedicated to educating others about ocean health issues, especially the issue of ghost nets. In this, our third story featuring Mission Blue partners involved in the ghost net issue, we’ll learn that not only do Joakim and Emma make the films, but they are also committed to working with fishermen and stakeholders towards a solution to the problem – called the second worst crisis in the largely landlocked Baltic Sea next to chemical dumping.
“From the late 50’s when we began to use synthetic material in nets and other fishing gear, 62,000 miles of nets have been put out to sea in the Baltic – and many of them have been lost. …

Posted in Partner Stories |

1 Comment
The Deadliest Ghosts

Kurt Lieber, Founder and President of Ocean Defenders Alliance kicks off our series on ‘Ghost Nets,’ featuring Mission Blue partners who are leading the charge to publicize – and remedy this growing and very dangerous problem for sea life. We’ve also embedded the just-released video from Jamie Thalman on ODA’s work, ‘Catalina Wrecked.’
We are proud to welcome Ocean Defenders Alliance to the Mission Blue family of Partners! ~ Ed.
There is a long-neglected issue affecting our planets oceans.  It is not that people don’t care; it is more a classic example of “out of sight, out of mind.”  Most people are outraged when they see images of garbage or clear-cuts in national forests—but too few people understand that our oceans face similarly devastating circumstances in the form of “ghost” fishing gear. …

Posted in Partner Stories |

Leave a comment