Action to retrieve lost fishing nets has started in the Baltic Sea

An international action has been launched in the Baltic Sea to search for and retrieve lost fishing nets, or so-called ghost nets, in which fish, as well as sea birds and mammals, are lost. According to WWF estimates, 800 tonnes of nets may be lying in the Polish zone alone.

According to experts, lost fishing nets continue to catch fish, and sea birds and mammals can also become entangled in them. Ghost nets are a source of plastic microparticles, which have a negative impact on the state of the marine ecosystem. Covered in paraffin, they can contribute to localised pollution of waters with oily substances. Nets caught on shipwrecks can also pose a serious threat to divers.

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“The action of searching and catching ghost nets will take place on the entire Polish coast until the end of October,” Marta Kalinowska of WWF Poland, an organisation that participates in the “Marelitt” project, announced in an interview with PAP. Similar activities will also take place in Swedish, German and Estonian waters.

“The fishermen on the boats will search for the nets using a specially designed scraper, the so-called searcher. The search will also be carried out by professional divers on previously indicated wrecks. TheKolobrzeg Fish Producers Group and the Maritime Academy in Szczecin, which has made its vessel Nawigator XXI available, participate in the project,” Kalinowska added.

As she explained, this year’s haul out of ghost nets is a continuation of similar undertakings from several years ago, but on a larger international scale. The origins of the campaign to fish out abandoned nets date back to 2011 in Poland. “In 2015, in cooperation with Polish fishermen, we managed to pull 268 tonnes of ghost nets from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. We estimate that up to 800 tonnes of nets may be lying in the Polish zone alone” – she explained.

“During our first trip near Władysławowo we managed to find a steel rope, which is probably part of a trawling net type of fishing equipment. The skipper of our boat said that the rope must have been lying on the bottom of the Baltic Sea for about 20 years,” – Kalinowska said.

She announced that in addition to the search for ghost nets, WWF Poland wants to create a systemic solution so that in the future no losses occur. “We want to develop a methodology that could be used by fishermen from Poland, Sweden, Estonia and Germany. We hope that we can also carry out a cost analysis for the disposal of ghost nets, so that the fisherman can take them to the port as waste free of charge. Now he has to pay a not inconsiderable extra fee,” – she added.

The campaign will run on the Polish coast until the end of October. It is planned to be repeated between June and September 2018.

“Marelitt” is co-financed by the EU Baltic Sea Region Programme. The budget of the international project for the next 3 years is 3.7 million euros, of which 60 percent is for activities at sea.

Source: PAP / www.naukawpolsce.pap.pl

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