6 Tonne Taiwanese Gill Net Retrieved

2006-11-13

A six-tonne bundle of net was brought into the coast off North East Arnhem Land on the 10th Nov 06. This was a fantastic example of teamwork between the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA), Customs, NT Parks & Wildlife, Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation & Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme.

This particular net had been sighted several times over the past 18 months but proved too large to handle. The first sighting was on the 16th of September 2005, Dhimurru, Parks & Wildlife, Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme Project Officer, local Police, Nomad Charters and Arafura Sea Charters attempted to remove the large floating net off the east side of Bremer Island (NE Nhulunbuy. The barge tried to tow the net to shore but failed. Two members of the team dived on the net and discovered it was at least 4 x 4 x 11 metres and confirmed it was attached to the bottom of the sea and too large for the barge to tow. About a week later the net had drifted to the northern side of Bremer Island and sat off the coast about 200 metres. After a week in this position, the net drifted further out to sea and it was not sighted again until the 29th October 2006, almost a year later.

An Australian fishing vessel reported the floating net, approximately 15 nautical miles from Bremer Island. Coastwatch promptly flew over the net to assess the situation. Customs contacted and instructed the vessel Corio Bay to locate and then tow the net to shore. AFMA contacted Arafura Charters on Sunday who proceeded to facilitate the removal of the net. On Tuesday evening, after consultation with Alcan Gove, Dhimurru, Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme and the traditional owners, Arafura Charters used their barge Gopu to drag the net onto the sand spit near Alcan’s export wharf.

On Wednesday morning, a team of contractors coordinated by Scott Chapman, proceeded to drag, pull, push, lift and roll, using a loader and back-hoe, the 68 metre long bundle of net up 250m of beach, to the car park where a semi-trailer was waiting. It took 5 hours to get there. The net was then pushed into the truck and taken to the Nhulunbuy dump where it was disposed of free of charge. The net’s weight was estimated at 6 tonne and was identified as a Thai gill net.

It was a fantastic and satisfying sight to see the net on the back of the truck after all the hard work that has gone into removing it over the past year. During the operation Arafura Charters, Dhimurru and Parks and Wildlife rangers rescued 2 juvenile hawksbill turtles from the net still alive, but unfortunately a large hammer-head shark and a smaller reef shark did not survive their entanglement in the net.

Dhimurru and the Carpentaria Ghost Nets Programme would like to extend their sincere thanks to Customs, AFMA, Arafura Charters, Nhulunbuy Dump, and Scotty Chapman and his team for their involvement and assistance with this net.