Action 57: Ghost nets
Action Title: Develop a risk assessment for identifying where accumulations of ghost nets pose a threat to the environment and should be removed.
Lead Party(ies): No Lead
What is the issue?
During fishing operations gear can be abandoned, lost or discarded - becoming marine litter. In the marine environment this equipment floats or can get caught up on either the seabed, habitats like reef structures or rocky outcrops. This ghost gear then continues to catch and entangle marine animals, act as transport or a vector for non-indigenous species and can also fragment over time into smaller particles, contributing to the microplastics problem. This second action on ALDFG (see also Action 56) aimed to develop a risk assessment for identifying where they pose a particular threat to the environment so they can be removed.
What has OSPAR Done?
Since the adoption of the RAP, there has been a growing understanding of the issue, experience in addressing it and increased political awareness. As a first step OSPAR has collated information relating to on going initiatives and experiences at the national, regional and global scale. ALDFG is a persistent issue and this collated information will form the evidence base of future work.
Final outputs and published reports
ACTION COMPLETE
This Action was partly delivered through the EU-funded CleanAtlantic project; in addition OSPAR collated information on global, regional and national initiatives of relevance.
