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EveryFish

Ghost nets

Lost or abandoned fishing nets and traps that keep catching fish and other animals for years.

Also: ghost gear, derelict fishing gear

Nets, lines and traps are lost in storms, snagged on reefs or dumped at sea. Because modern nets are made of plastic, they do not rot, and they keep drifting and catching fish, turtles, sharks and seabirds, which die and attract more animals. This ghost fishing can go on for years. Ghost nets also smother coral. Groups of divers and fishers recover them, and some ports pay for old nets so they are brought back for recycling rather than thrown overboard.

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