The Fishing Line Lost at Sea in a Year Could Wrap Around Earth 18 Times

Billions of hooks, millions of traps, and hundreds of thousands of kilometers of fishing line and nets fall into the ocean annually from commercial fishing ventures. Ghost fishing is a phenomenon in which drifting gear is used to catch sea life.

These items pile onto the mountains of ocean pollution already creating massive challenges for wildlife

The amount of fishing line that falls into the ocean each year is estimated to encircle the planet 18 times.

The data collected to create these estimates came from fishers themselves.

Richardson and colleagues interviewed 450 fishers across seven countries, surveying them on fishing gear use and losses as well as the factors they think contribute to this deadly pollution.

The researchers found that the types of sea vessels used influenced the losses.

Richardson and team suggest that larger vessels could have better navigation and fishing tools that reduce losses.

There were more losses of the nets hitting the seafloor than at the deeper depths. With the loss of nets comes higher financial risks for the fishers. Around 25% of all seafood is supplied by this practice.

Other types of nets were less likely to be lost. The risks of gear loss were made worse by bad weather.

In 65 years, there will be enough fishing nets to cover the entire planet, according to the team. This does not include lost fishing gear.

Many categories of waste can cause problems in the marine environment, but fishing gear that is specifically designed to kill animals causes more problems.

It can't discriminate when it comes to fishing. The decline in the number of sharks and rays in the last 50 years has resulted in them becoming entangled in nets and wounded by longline hooks.

There were over 1000 instances of entangled sharks and rays in 2019.

One example in the study is a mako shark with fishing rope wrapped around it.

The shark was injured by the rope that was covered in barnacles and dug into its skin. There is a real animal welfare issue because of the pain and suffering that can be caused by entangled animals.

People are encouraged to report any images of animals in distress.

The good news is that a self- reported stocktake of the percentage of fishing gear losses appears to be lower than estimates.

Richardson says there has been an increase in global fishing effort as well as improvements in fishing technologies.

It helps to highlight where efforts need to focus to support fisheries management and gear stewardship interventions to generate targeted solutions to reduce fishing gear ending up in the ocean.

Regular gear maintenance and repair, gear tracking, loss reporting and recovery, and encouraging good disposal practices are some of the strategies Richardson and colleagues recommend.

Their work was published in a journal.