"'Ghost Gear': The Abandoned Fishing Nets Clogging Up Oceans"

"Over the weekend, boats, helicopters and airplanes searched up and down the southern California coast, hoping to rescue an 80ft blue whale spotted entangled in a 200ft fishing line.

Exact numbers are unknown, but the National Marine Fisheries Service reported an average of 11 entangled large whales per year from 2000 to 2012 along the US west coast. Around the world, seals, turtles, birds and fish are also injured and killed in the same way. Between 2002 and 2010, 870 nets recovered from Washington State alone contained more than 32,000 marine animals.

One cause of this problem is “ghost gear”, fishing gear that is lost and abandoned in the ocean. Thought to make up 10% of all marine litter, fishing gear can be lost accidentally during storms, but it can also be abandoned deliberately. Many ports lack the facilities to collect, recycle or trade nets and it’s simply cheaper and easier to throw them overboard."

Hannah Gould reports for the Guardian September 10, 2015.