{"id":14570,"date":"2024-10-07T13:37:09","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T13:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/?p=14570"},"modified":"2024-10-09T17:24:57","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T17:24:57","slug":"ghost-gear-the-phantom-threat-beneath-the-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/en\/ghost-gear-the-phantom-threat-beneath-the-waves\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghost Gear: The Phantom Threat Beneath the Waves"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s something strange haunting the ocean deep, who you gonna call?<\/h2>\n

Ghost Gearbusters!<\/strong><\/p>\n

From tangled nets to lost traps, abandoned and lost fishing gear is one of the ocean\u2019s most sinister foes. Ghost gear happens when nets snag on the seafloor, get tangled with other fishing gear or are lost during nasty storms. It\u2019s rare for fish harvesters and to intentionally discard their gear \u2013 after all, they\u2019re not trying to hurt marine life, and losing equipment is costly.<\/p>\n

How Fishing Gear Haunts Marine Life<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

Once ghost gear is in the ocean, it keeps \u201cfishing\u201d for years, and plenty of species fall victim to its clutches. A single net can trap hundreds of animals like dolphins, sharks, sea turtles and more. Every year, 136,000 whales, dolphins, seals and turtles get entangled in ghost gear. Once they\u2019re caught, these animals can\u2019t escape, meaning they can\u2019t take a breath at the water\u2019s surface, hunt for food, leading to life-threatening injuries and eventual drowning.<\/p>\n

Tackling Ghost Gear Head-On<\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Canada has been leading the charge in fighting ghost gear. Since 2020, all Canadian commercial fisheries are required to report lost gear, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) actively work to recover it. When lost gear is logged, we\u2019re able to pinpoint high-risk areas for gear loss and keep track of patterns with the aim of preventing future losses. Moreover, between 2020 and 2024, Canada\u2019s Ghost Gear Fund invested $58.3 million into over 140 projects, recovering over 36,000 units of gear.<\/p>\n

On-Demand Gear: A Lifeline for Marine Wildlife<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

While retrieving ghost gear is crucial, reducing the ropes added to the ocean in the first place is just as important. That\u2019s where on-demand gear plays a huge role. The Canadian Wildlife Federation is helping fish harvesters adopt this innovative technology with the CanFiSH Gear Lending Program. In 2022 and 2023, 14 fish harvesters used it to catch over 344,000 kilograms of Snow Crab \u2014removing over 1,000 vertical ropes from the ocean. This helps protect species like whales and sea turtles from deadly entanglements.<\/p>\n

Learn more about this life saving gear and the CanFISH Gear Lending Program. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s something strange haunting the ocean deep, who you gonna call? Ghost Gearbusters! From tangled nets to lost traps, abandoned and lost fishing gear is one of the ocean\u2019s…<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":14572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[636],"tags":[1050,9959],"class_list":["post-14570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coasts-oceans","tag-entanglement","tag-fishing-gear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/60"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14570"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14611,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14570\/revisions\/14611"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.cwf-fcf.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}