Frequently Asked Questions

The term 'ghost gear' refers to any fishing gear that has been abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded (for example nets, line, rope, traps, pots, and floats). Other common terms include abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear or ‘ALDFG’ and derelict fishing gear or ‘DFG’.

Ghost fishing is a process by which abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear continues to catch fish and other animals. Ghost fishing is indiscriminate and impacts all aquatic life from commercial fish stocks to marine megafauna such as cetaceans, pinnipeds, turtles and seabirds.

When an animal is caught in ghost gear and dies, it starts to decay, which attracts other aquatic life to feed on it. These predators or scavengers can then get caught themselves, resulting in a deadly cycle that can last for dozens of years.

Studies indicate that some types of plastic ghost gear may persist in the marine environment for decades, continuing to catch and kill aquatic life before eventually breaking down into microplastics and ending up in the food chain. The cumulative long-term effects of ghost fishing gear are extremely damaging to aquatic flora and fauna, as well as to the people and industries who depend on safe and healthy seas.

There is a growing body of evidence to show that ghost fishing gear poses serious impacts to the health of marine life and ocean ecosystems more broadly. One study estimates that between 5% - 30% of harvestable fish stocks, depending on the region, are impacted by ghost gear across the world, posing a major threat to human health and livelihoods as well as to global food security.

Ghost fishing gear can cause large-scale damage to marine ecosystems through habitat disturbance and causes direct harm to the welfare and conservation of marine animals via entanglement and/or ingestion.

Ghost gear also acts as a source of, and vehicle for, persistent toxic chemical pollution in the ocean. It threatens human life and health, particularly divers and those trying to navigate the oceans in both small and large vessels. Ghost gear also poses economic impacts, compromising yields and income in fisheries, and costing many millions of dollars annually to clean up.

Ghost gear has many causes, but the primary ones are snags on rocks, reefs or spires beneath the surface of the water; conflict / entanglement with other deployed fishing gear; severe weather where gear must be abandoned for safety reasons; and gear being cut loose incidentally by other marine traffic crossing over top of it.

Intentional discard by fishers is comparatively rare, as fishing gear is expensive, and no fisher ever wants to lose their gear. It’s important to remember that fishers are not villains in this story! It’s in the best interest of all fishers to avoid gear loss. The vast majority of fishers are stewards of the ocean and its resources, and we actively work with fishers and the fishing industry to incorporate lasting solutions to this problem across the world and across the fishing supply chain.

Intentional discard, when it does happen, is far more likely to occur A) with illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing, as vessels fish in darkness and other challenging conditions to avoid detection and may cut their gear loose to avoid being caught by authorities or B) in some areas of the world where no practical end-of-life options exist for fishers to dispose of their gear.

GGGI is working in numerous areas of the world to provide viable options for end-of-life gear, including trialing gear recovery and recycling projects to ensure that as much gear as possible is prevented from entering the ocean and other waterways and that communities in all areas of the world have viable solutions for gear that reaches the end of its useful life.

Ghost gear is something that has been identified as a critical issue facing the world’s ocean and waterways (ghost gear is found in freshwater lakes and rivers too!), but it is still not sufficiently well understood. In 2009, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimated ghost gear makes up approximately 10% of all marine litter when measured by weight, though this was a best guess at the time.

However, more recent studies from between 2017 and 2022 have suggested that ghost gear could make up as much 70% – 86% of all macro plastic in the ocean gyres when measured by weight. More research needs to be done to come up with a universally accepted number. Some of this research is ongoing right now.