{"id":775,"date":"2026-04-24T07:25:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/ghost-fishing-has-been-killing-marine-species-for-decades-global-estimates-confirm\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T07:26:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:26:00","slug":"ghost-fishing-has-been-killing-marine-species-for-decades-global-estimates-confirm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/ghost-fishing-has-been-killing-marine-species-for-decades-global-estimates-confirm\/","title":{"rendered":"Ghost Fishing Has Been Killing Marine Species for Decades, Global Estimates Confirm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Each year, about 2% of all fishing gear used worldwide ends up lost or abandoned at sea. A study published in Science Advances<\/em> reveals astronomical volumes. These tools continue to trap animals and ecosystems long after they are abandoned.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Thousands of kilometers of nets and lines vanish each year: here is what the figures really show<\/h2>\n

Researchers from CSIRO and the University of Tasmania interviewed more than 450 fishers from seven countries. They cross-referenced these testimonies with global data<\/strong> on commercial fishing effort. The result provides the first global, up-to-date estimate of the phenomenon.<\/p>\n

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Each year, roughly 740,000 kilometers of main longline gear reach the ocean floor. Put end to end, these lines alone would surpass the Earth\u2019s circumference more than eighteen times. It\u2019s a number that\u2019s hard to visualize, yet scientifically established and confirmed by multiple independent sources.<\/p>\n

In addition, around 3,000 square kilometers of gillnets, 218 square kilometers of trawls, and 75,000 square kilometers of sliding seines are accounted for. The researchers also tally more than twenty-five million crab pots and traps<\/strong>, as well as nearly fourteen billion longline hooks<\/strong> each year.<\/p>\n

Storms, reefs and ship conflicts: why do these gear systematically end up at the bottom of the sea<\/h2>\n

The causes of these losses are multiple and well documented. Bottom trawls regularly snag on reefs or rugged seabed features. Severe weather conditions<\/strong> alone account for about 80% of losses reported by fishers themselves.<\/p>\n

Also read<\/span> Climate study: sixteen tipping points could interact and permanently alter Earth’s system balances<\/span><\/section>\n

Intersections between gear also contribute to the phenomenon. A trawl net can become entangled with a drifting longline. Some losses also result from mechanical failures or conflicts between competing vessels. Global fishing effort<\/strong> increasing worldwide mechanically worsens the situation every year.<\/p>\n

Ghost fishing kills species for decades: sharks, turtles and corals trapped in invisible nets<\/h2>\n

A lost piece of gear does not stop functioning. It continues to catch fish, marine mammals, turtles and sharks for months, sometimes years. This phenomenon is known as ghost fishing<\/strong>. According to WWF, these devices represent the deadliest form of marine plastic.<\/p>\n

Ghost gear also directly damages coral reefs and seabeds. In some places it accounts for up to 46% of floating debris in the North Pacific Gyre. Their gradual breakdown<\/strong> into microplastics further worsens the long-term contamination of marine food chains.<\/p>\n

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Global populations of sharks and rays have fallen by 71% over the past half-century. Lost hooks and nets directly intensify this pressure. Cetaceans, such as dolphins and whales, also become entangled with often fatal outcomes.<\/p>\n

FAO and the EU mobilize legal tools to curb pollution from lost fishing gear at sea<\/h2>\n

International organizations are already taking action. The FAO has developed targeted measures: mandatory gear marking, loss reporting, in-sea recovery and oversight of destructive practices. The European Union is calling for the collection of at least 50% of lost gear annually by member states.<\/p>\n

The European Parliament is also pushing toward a real-time mapping and tracking system. These measures rely on the polluter-pays principle, notably targeting gear manufacturers. Tax incentives<\/strong> such as deposit systems aim to encourage fishers to return recovered gear to port.<\/p>\n

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These estimates do not include losses tied to recreational fishing, though they are significant. Regularly updating global data remains essential to calibrate large-scale solutions. The CSIRO study provides a unique reference base<\/strong> to guide forthcoming sustainable fisheries policies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1053,711,1052,1050,411,688,1051,252,249],"class_list":["post-775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-confirm","tag-decades","tag-estimates","tag-fishing","tag-ghost","tag-global","tag-killing","tag-marine","tag-species","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/775\/revisions\/777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.farmersforum.ie\/trends\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}