What is a Ghost Net?
Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been lost accidentally, deliberately discarded, or simply abandoned at sea. They travel the oceans of the world with the currents and tides continually fishing as they progress through the waters. As they are unattended and roaming, they fish indiscriminately, not only catching threatened species but undersized and protected fish as well.
Did you Know?
The largest net found in the Gulf of Carpentaria so far is a Taiwanese manufactured gill nets estimated at
weighing as much as 6 tonnes which would
measure when stretched out approximately 6.1 kilometres in length with a drop of 4 mts..
What is the Carpentaria Ghost Net Programme?
“The Ghost Net Project is for people from (Indigenous) communities all around the Gulf of Carpentaria to find ways to work together to get rid of marine debris in their sea country.”
Djawa Yunupingu, Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation
In Northern Australia Indigenous Sea Rangers from 18 communities in Torres straits, Arnhem Land & Gulf of Carpentaria noted that many turtles were being captured in ghost nets that were washing up on the beaches.
As much of this coastline is the breeding and foraging ground for 6 culturally and
ecologically important species of marine turtle there was a real concern that so many were getting trapped and dying.
The Rangers collaborated with other non-government organisations, calling themselves "the saltwater people"; a name which recognises the shared concerns & custodianship for marine wildlife.
The project is managed by the Northern Gulf Resource Management Group (NGRMG) with funding from the Australian Government.
The Australian Government funding is matched by stakeholder's cash and in-kind contributions.
The aim of the project is three fold:
- To clean up the coastline in the Gulf of Carpentaria of existing nets to stop them re-entering the ocean,
- To collect useful information about these nets to assist negotiations by various parties in stopping fishing nets becoming Ghost Nets, &
- Capacity building of Indigenous Rangers to continue work on ghost nets beyond the life of this project.
The project covers the coastline from Badu Island in the Torres Straits to the Wessell Islands north Arnhem Land but will be expanding further west as far as the Kimberly's as the problem
is not confined to the Gulf of Carpentaria (GoC), as first thought. Only 4% of the nets can be traced as of
Australian origin and these are concentrated in the SW corner of the GoC which coincides with local fishing grounds
More information about the programme see About
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