Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been lost or left by fishermen. These nets then float around in the sea, or they end up attached to a rock or other structure. This poses a problem because the nets continue working. Fish and other animals get caught, and then starve, or die of other causes. Since most nets use plastic, they take a long time to decay. In addition, the nets may release toxic substances while they decay.

Thumb
Turtle caught in a ghost net
Thumb
A mummified bird (Gannet) caught in a ghost net, next to a breeding one.

Since 1997, there has been a large pile of plastic floating in the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles wide. People used to think it was made of pieces of plastic that ordinary people threw away. However, in 2018, scientists found that it was mostly lost fishing nets and other fishing tools from large fishing boats.[1][2]

References

Wikiwand in your browser!

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.

Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.