Australia has joined Ocean Conservancy’s Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) and pledged AUD 1.4 million (USD 930,000, EUR 850,000) toward regional action on net use in the Arafura and Timor seas.
Australia’s decision to join GGGI was announced by Australia Minister for the Environment and Water Tanya Plibersek, who said that the country will work with Papua New Guinea and Indonesia to tackle the issue of ghost gear in the country’s shared waters. Launched in 2015 by Ocean Conservancy, GGGI is dedicated to tackling the issue of lost fishing gear, including discarded fishing nets, and now has 24 member countries and a set of guidelines on reducing marine litter.
“These discarded fishing nets can stretch more than 6 kilometers and weigh several tons – entangling, lacerating, and even strangling birds, turtles, cetaceans ,and other wildlife,” Plibersek said in her announcement.
Plibersek said the pledge is devoted to reducing the amount of abandoned fishing gear in regional seas.
According to studies on the plastic content of the ocean, ghost gear is responsible for up to 86 percent of all floating plastic production in ocean gyres by weight. Ocean Conservancy research has also found it to be a particularly deadly form of ocean pollution, and the organization has pressed the United Nations to address the issue.
“Ghost gear is the deadliest form of marine debris and a critical part of solving the ocean plastics pollution crisis,” Ocean Conservancy GGGI Policy Specialist Hannah Pragnell-Raasch said. “We are thrilled that Australia has joined the GGGI and is proactively supporting neighboring countries in the Asia Pacific to address ghost gear.”
Pragnell-Raasch added that Australia has joined just as the organization is about to advocate for tackling ghost gear in the region.
“This is particularly timely as we prepare for the final round of plastics treaty negotiations taking place next month in Busan, South Korea, where we have been working with member states to include specific provisions to prevent and mitigate the impacts of plastic fishing and aquaculture gear,” Pragnell-Raasch said.
