Ghost nets, or ghost gear, are deserted or misplaced fishing gear. They float by means of the ocean, trapping and killing wildlife, snagging on boats, and even threatening divers.
One native scuba diver noticed the issue and determined to take issues into his personal palms.
Harry Chan, a self-proclaimed “ghost web hunter,” has spent the final decade hauling deserted fishing nets out of the ocean. The 68-year-old retired businessman says he’s on a mission to scrub up Hong Kong’s surrounding waters and shoreline.
“If we’re not going to care for the setting and the ocean, we aren’t going to get one other one,” says Chan.
What’s ghost gear?
It is a big downside for marine life in addition to folks, says Laurence McCook, oceans director for WWF Hong Kong.
Looking for ghost nets
As soon as Chan locates a web, eradicating it might take anyplace from three to eight hours, and is harmful and grueling work. However Chan, who has been diving since 1987 with over 3,000 dives thus far, is obsessively passionate — and his brushes with dying in pursuit of his purpose haven’t deterred him.
“A few occasions, I nearly bought killed, being tangled,” he says. “Fortunately, I used to be in a position to be freed by my buddies.”
Through the years, Chan has constructed a small staff of rotating volunteers who assist him on his mission to scrub up Hong Kong’s waters. Kitted out in scuba diving gear, the staff will exit on a ship in the hunt for stray ghost nets.
After they discover one — which might be tough with Hong Kong’s poor water visibility — they use a knife or scissors to free marine life trapped in it or untangle it from rocks, coral or the seabed the place it might be caught.
Relying on the scale and weight of the online and the way deep it’s, a small floating machine may also help elevate the online to the floor. Usually, Chan goes on these dives twice a month, in addition to organizing seaside and shoreline cleanups.
Through the years, Chan estimates he has collected greater than 80 metric tons of ghost gear by hand along with his volunteer group, and says he is decided to proceed searching this “silent killer.”
“Being a diver, there’s a lot we will do to guard and save the ocean,” he says.
‘Ghost Gear Detective’
Whereas “native heroes” like Chan are doing nice work gathering ghost nets, the potential risks to even probably the most skilled divers can’t be overstated, says McCook of WWF Hong Kong.
“A web is designed to catch issues underwater, and it is superb at doing that,” he says. “It is remarkably simple to get tangled, and on the finish of the day, we’re underwater — we have now a restricted air provide.”
That is why WWF Hong Kong has developed a “Ghost Gear Detective” program.
The citizen scientist initiative invitations leisure scuba divers and boaters to report the placement of ghost gear on a water-resistant slate utilizing a conveyable, floating GPS machine to establish the coordinates. This info is reported through an app as soon as they’re again on dry land.
For the reason that program’s launch in 2019, WWF Hong Kong says 244 items of ghost gear have been eliminated, primarily based on 225 studies — amounting to almost 600 kilos of kit.
“The worth of gathering the information is just not solely about eradicating it, however that database then places the federal government and ourselves able to grasp the magnitude and nature of the issue — which is crucial to determining options,” says McCook.
Tagging and monitoring
Whereas cleansing up this ghost gear is important, stopping fishing gear from ending up within the ocean within the first place is essential.
Creating incentives for fisheries and fishermen to maintain their nets effectively maintained and correctly recycle them may assist “forestall deliberate and unintended lack of nets,” says McCook.
Ghost nets are additionally usually “strongly related to unlawful fishing,” he provides, so governments have to make sure that marine police and conservation our bodies have “the assets and the means to have the ability to actually implement the laws actively and responsibly.”
Chan hopes improved authorities insurance policies will take away the “root trigger” for future generations. And although the scale of the issue can typically be daunting, he says so long as there are ghost nets within the ocean, he’ll hold diving.
“I am in my 60s, I’ve bought on a regular basis I need to do no matter I need to do — and being a diver, I believe it is time for me to essentially contribute again to the neighborhood,” says Chan. “Age is simply a determine. There’s a lot we will do, irrespective of how previous you might be.”
