5 Things You Should Know About Ghost Nets

You've probably already noticed that our products like bracenets, key chains and dog leashes are made of ghost nets. But what are these ghost nets, why are there thousands of them floating in our oceans, why are they such a problem for marine animals and why are we developing new products from them? Read on to learn five exciting facts about ghost nets!

Our products, which Bracenets , keychain or dog leashes are made from former fishing nets. On the one hand, they are end-of-life nets, i.e. nets that have been used up by fisheries, and on the other hand, they are recovered ghost nets. But what are ghost nets, why are they a problem and why do we develop new products from them? Here we explain them to you in five points. This will help you understand the story behind your product much better and you can tell your friends and family about it.

1. What are ghost nets and why are they a problem?

Ghost nets are lost or intentionally sunk fishing nets that wander through our oceans and continue to fish senselessly. Sounds scary? It is: They pose an immense danger to all marine animals. Every year, several million creatures become entangled in the nets that are often miles long . Washed-up nets are also becoming an increasing threat to land animals, as they can become entangled in them. The birds of the northern gannet colony on Heligoland, for example, use Dolly Ropes (plastic threads used to protect trawl nets from abrasion) to build their nests.

The northern gannets on Heligoland use dolly ropes to build their nests. If they get tangled up in them, they cannot free themselves.

According to recent studies, ghost nets between 30 to 50 percent of the plastic waste in the world's oceans is made up of plastic . The Great Pacific Garbage Patch northeast of Hawaii, for example, consists of 46 percent old fishing nets. A size that is hard to imagine, because this whirlpool alone is more than 4.5 times the size of Germany and consists of more than 80,000 tons of plastic.

2. How do ghost nets get into our oceans?

Basically, ghost nets are a negative side effect of fishing. The nets end up in our seas in various ways:

• Environmental influences :
  Fishing nets are accidentally lost due to external influences and become ghost nets. For example, …
  • … trawl nets that are dragged behind the boat get caught on corals, wrecks or other obstacles on the seabed and then break loose.
  • … gill nets that are firmly anchored in the ground are torn from their supports during strong storms and carried away by the current.
  • … nets accidentally fall overboard in shipping accidents.
• Economic causes :
  While a large part of the fishing industry is very careful with their nets and they are only accidentally lost or forgotten, there are also cases where greed for profit drives the nets into the water.
  • Disposing of used nets can be very expensive. For fisheries that cannot afford the costs, this can be an incentive to dispose of the nets at sea.
  • Sometimes it is simply due to a lack of waste management – ​​for example, when pieces of net cut out during repair work go overboard.
  • In rare cases: If a particularly good catch has been made underwater, but the boat no longer has room, the net for the million-dollar catch has to be removed from the boat.
• Illegal fishing :
  Aside from official fishing, illegal fishing is a driver of ghost nets.
  • If an illegal fishing boat is in danger of being caught, the nets may be thrown overboard or cut.

3. Once plastic, always plastic

For a long time, easily perishable natural materials such as hemp, sisal or linen were used for fishing.

Plastic nets have only been used in fishing around the world for four decades. However, as ghost nets, they remain a threat to our underwater world for several centuries.

Over a period of about 400-600 years, the nets decompose into microplastics. A frightening number when you consider that the industry has only been producing plastic for about 100 years. These tiny pieces of plastic have already been detected in many species of fish, crabs, mussels and mammals. Long-term studies are currently being conducted to investigate the effects this has on the animals - but also on us humans, who, for example, consume the affected fish.

4. The fight against ghost nets

It is high time to collect the ghost nets and, if possible, find new uses for them. Initial efforts are encouraging: thin nylon gill nets can be spun into yarn, thick drag nets can be melted down into pellets. The yarn can be used in bikinis, sportswear or backpacks, and the pellets can be made into cell phone cases or skateboards, for example.

We are also fighting the problem! Together with our partners Healthy Seas , Ghost Diving and Nofir We have been removing the nets from the water for over 7 years now. The nets often get caught on rocks, corals and old shipwrecks deep in the sea. Our experienced divers regularly take part in often dangerous salvage operations around the world.

After recovery, the nets are cleaned and handcrafted by us into bracenets, among other things. So far, we have processed over 7 tons of nets into bracenets and generated donations of over €190,000 for our partners Healthy Seas, Ghost Diving and other great organizations such as Sea Shepherd and Shark Allies. These donations then finance further dives to recover ghost nets and preventive measures.

Ghost Diving Greece during a rescue operation

5. This is what you can personally do against ghost nets!

• Think about your own fish consumption. Where and how is the fish that ends up on your plate caught? Is care taken to protect the environment and fish stocks? The respective fish shopping guides from Greenpeace and WWF help you find the right answers.
• Talk about the topic! We have often found that Bracenet is a good conversation starter. Many people are not even aware of the problem.
• Donate to projects dedicated to fighting ghost nets. Our partners Healthy Seas and Ghost Diving live solely on donations. Every donation helps to finance new rescue missions or preventive measures.
• Do you find nets on the beach? Collect them! Maybe we can even do something with them. We have a platform where you can send them to us. → https://bracenet.net/netquarter/

So you see: ghost nets are a problem, but promising and successful efforts are being made to combat them. More and more people are talking about ghost nets, journalists are writing about the topic, and politicians have now also become aware of the issue. You too can show personal commitment - and if we all pull together, we can make a big difference. Let's save the oceans together!