2023-10-20 12:17:47
A week ago, several divers located a huge seine net drifting on the seabed near Mount Jaizkibel. Dozens of fish were already hooked by that deadly trap for marine fauna and nothing could be done to save them. The risk that the damage would be even greater motivated a large effort to be organized to try to recover it. Yesterday, after almost three hours of immersion, the net was raised, which occupied 700 square meters when deployed. A success for the operation that also faced difficult sea conditions.
At 11:30 a.m. the operation organized by the maritime service of the Civil Guard of Gipuzkoa set sail from the port of Pasaia and in which a unit from the Groups of Specialists in Underwater Activities (GEAS) arriving from Logroño also participated. Two inflatable boats and the patrol boat ‘Río Sella’ headed towards Punta Turrulla, on Mount Jaizkibel, where the lost gear had been located.
The recovery operation became more complicated than expected due to the difficult maritime conditions, with strong gusts of wind. The divers were faced with a very complicated task and with many unknowns since it was unknown if it had capsized on the bottom and was very tangled. The work, carried out at a depth of about 25 meters, was carried out with great caution and patience; they managed to untangle the rig and lift it using balloons to the surface to later lift it with the cranes to the patrol boat.
Several captured specimens of starfish and crustaceans, such as santiaguiños, were trapped in the net. On the day of its location, numerous entangled fish were found that could not be saved. If its recovery had not been carried out, the “ghost net” could have caused irreparable damage to the marine fauna and flora of the area.
What are ‘ghost networks’?
Many consider them to be the silent predator of the oceans. They are fishing equipment that has been abandoned, lost or discarded and that drifts for years catching fish and marine fauna.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), between 500,000 and one million tons of fishing nets and gear end up in the ocean every year. It is estimated that these gear constitute 10% of marine litter. Many of these gear incorporate synthetic and plastic materials and are considered the most lethal waste of these characteristics for marine fauna.
It is estimated that 66% of marine mammals, 50% of seabirds and 100% of turtles have been affected by these ghost nets. Although there is difficulty in quantifying the catches of this type of fishing at a global level, there are figures that show that close to 90% of the species captured by ghost nets are commercial.
Lost fishing equipment is also a threat to habitats that are areas of development for various species, to corals and pose a risk to safety in navigation and aquatic activities, they become a transport of invasive species and the plastics they incorporate. They can take several hundred years to decompose.
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