Friends of Marine Life, an NGO, has found that ‘ghost nets’ are widespread in the Kerala coast.
Ghost nets are fishing nets that are abandoned in the sea owing to various reasons. As per a study conducted by the FML, the use of such nets is causing irreparable damage to the marine ecosystem, consisting of thousands of varieties of sea organisms, says a press release issued here on Tuesday.
The study says that there are four kinds of ghost nets. Large-scale fishing vessels that reach the sea here violating the international borders use large nets to fish in areas where a huge number of fish are found. Sometimes, the nets get caught in the bottom and the vessel abandons it.
The second type of ghost nets are those that get caught underneath when smaller fishing nets spread out by fishermen are cut off by a passing vessel. These too rest on the ocean floor causing damage to the ecosystem.
The third type are the nets that get caught in currents and end up on the ocean floor. The fourth type are special kinds of nets that are abandoned after three or four uses.
According to Robert Panipilla, FML coordinator, the UN Ocean Conference recently took this issue up for discussion. As per the figures, almost 10% of the reduction in fish catch globally is attributed to the presence of ghost nets.
Agreements
However, in India, environmental organisations are yet to take up this issue as they are unaware of it and do not have the requisite expertise for it.
Now, countries have woken up to the dangers posed by such nets and those like Sweden are entering into agreements with other countries to tackle the issues. The government here should take such steps and make use of the knowledge of the local community for these purposes, the press release says.
