Ghost Fishing UK recover 1500kg of lost fishing gear from Shetland waters

Volunteer divers from award-winning charity Ghost Fishing UK (GFUK) have cleared more than 1.5 tonnes of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ghost gear) from around the coast of Shetland, Scotland.

The charity had been invited to Shetland by conservation group Fishing Foward, whose members had become concerned about the abundance of abandoned gillnets being pulled in by their own trawlers. The nets appeared to have been dumped by fishing vessels not local to the area, were ‘causing havoc’ with wildlife, and raising concerns about pollution, net dumping and littering from overseas fisheries.

Diving from the MV Valhalla, the team recovered 1,500kg of lost fishing gear, which included a trawl net pulled from the wreck of the sunken fishing vessel Fraoch Ban, 41 creel pots and keeper pots, which were returned to local Shetland fishermen.

‘The gill nets tend to be in very deep water, and as they are often dumped, we have no way of knowing where they are,’ said GFUK trustee, Christine Grosart, who organised the trip. ‘We decided to pick low-hanging fruit this week and try and get some lost creels back to the local fishermen, whilst starting a discussion on how we can work together to solve bigger problems of gill nets.

‘We could not have done this without the cooperation of the Shetland fishing community. Hazel, master of MV Valhalla has been working tirelessly to get the word out to fishermen that we were coming up to help. We are eternally grateful to her and the fishermen who reported their lost pots – they were delighted to get them back again.’

The charity was supported by Northlink Ferries, who sponsored the group’s travel to Shetland, a valuable contribution to the trip’s £18,000 bill. The volunteer divers were also supported by Reel Diving and Halcyon Dive Systems, who provided lift bags, surface marker buoys, reels and regulators.

Local Haulier DFDS Haulage Shetland is set to ship the gear that can be recycled to Ocean Plastic Pots, where it will be used to make garden pots; any gear left over will be taken by DFDS to Somerset for collection by artists and artisan jewellery makers.

Ghost Fishing UK is heavily dependent on reports from fishermen to locate and remove ghost gear – lost or abandoned fishing gear which continues to catch and kill marine life until it is removed from the ocean – and is committed to working with the fishing community to try and solve the problem.

During the Shetland trip, the team was able to learn more about the difficulties faced by Shetland’s fishermen when two of its members were invited to spend the day on board the creel boat Kiama, by its skipper, John-Arthur.

‘We learned so much from John-Arthur,’ said Grosart. ‘ He didn’t hold back telling us about the struggles of smaller local boats and we felt compelled at the end of the day to do all we could to help.

‘He was kind enough to let us have a go at emptying and stacking creels, although I don’t think he’ll be offering us a job any time soon! What these guys do is incredible!’

Towards the end of the trip, the charity hosted an event at the Shetland Museum with speakers from Ghost Fishing UK and Arlene Robertson of Fishing Foward discussing concerns surrounding gill netting and pollution. Some of the team were also able to visit Hillswick Wildlife Sanctuary, whose owners have to deal with the fallout of marine wildlife trapped and entangled in ghost gear.

‘It was extremely gratifying to have the team from Ghost Fishing UK arriving in Shetland to work on clearing old fishing nets, ropes and creels from the seabed around the islands, said the sanctuary’s owners.

‘What made their visit even more inspiring was the close working relationship they have developed with Shetland’s fishing crews who are feeling squeezed by a pincer movement of government regulation on one side and unregulated competition on the other.

‘To witness conservationists working hand in hand with the fishing community to take on the responsibility of cleaning up our oceans is exactly the sort of example the world needs right now.’

Ghost Fishing UK hopes to return to Shetland to continue its work and is appealing for Fishermen to report any gear losses to their dedicated reporting system here at www.ghostfishing.co.uk/fishermans-reporting

You can read more about the Sheltand project on Ghost Fishing UK’s website, and follow the team’s progress on Facebook @GhostFishingUK, Instagram @ghostfishinguk and Twitter @ghost_fishinguk.

Filed Under: Briefing Tagged With: Ghost Fishing