The Global Ghost Gear Initiative - UN ESCAP · An estimated 5-30% of global harvestable fish stocks...
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www.ghostgear.org The Global Ghost Gear Initiative: Driving solutions to lost & abandoned fishing gear worldwide Dr Darian McBain Global Director of Sustainability Thai Union Group
Transcript of The Global Ghost Gear Initiative - UN ESCAP · An estimated 5-30% of global harvestable fish stocks...
www.ghostgear.org
The Global Ghost Gear Initiative:
Driving solutions to lost & abandoned fishing gear worldwide
Dr Darian McBain
Global Director of Sustainability
Thai Union Group
www.ghostgear.org
In 2009, UNEP & FAO estimated that at least 640,000 tonnes of
fishing gear is abandoned, lost or discarded in our oceans
every year – this figure is likely to be much higher today.
Being purposely designed to capture marine life, “ghost gear” is
the most harmful form of marine debris.
An estimated 5-30% of global harvestable fish stocks
(depending on fishery/geography) are killed by ghost gear every
year, making ghost gear a major threat to global food security.
Ghost gear makes up 58% of all macro-plastics (larger than
5mm) in the oceans, or 70% of all floating macro-plastic debris,
measured by weight.
www.ghostgear.org
Causes of ghost gearDirect Causes:
- Adverse weather conditions or strong currents - resulting in gear loss or abandonment and
making retrieval difficult or dangerous
- Spatial pressures - resulting in gear conflict & resulting in vessel conflicts with gear
- Malfunctioning of tracking systems
- Snagging on submerged features or damage by marine organisms
- Improper gear design or upkeep with repairs
- Improper fishing methods
- Intentional discard – link with IUU fishing
Indirect causes:
- Lack of disposal facilities
- Inaccessible disposal facilities
- Expensive disposal facilities
www.ghostgear.org
A global solutionGGGI was founded by World Animal Protection in 2014. It is
now led by Ocean Conservancy & World Animal Protection.
The Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) is a collective of NGOs,
private sector, fishing industry, academia and governments, all
contributing to tackle this problem on a global scale.
Aims:
• To improve the health of marine ecosystems
• To protect marine animals from harm
• To safeguard human health and livelihoods
Through the collective impact of its members, we aim to address
the issue of ghost gear in a holistic way, focusing on the 3 Rs –
Reduce, Remove, Recycle
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Our Voluntary Commitment at the UN Ocean Conference in 2017
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A Global Reach
1-3 participants
4-8 participants
9+ participants
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13 supporting
governments6 high level global
affiliates
A Global Reach
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GGGI 2.0 – A STRONG TEAM
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Promoting and Informing Best Practice
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Best Practice Framework for Management of Fishing Gear (BPF)
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• Working to investigate how marking fishing gear can
be used to address ghost gear & IUU fishing –
focus on gillnet fisheries in 2 pilot sites.
• Testing of tagging gear supports efforts to improve
traceability in supply chains.
• Findings of the project supported the FAO Technical
Consultation on the Voluntary Guidelines on the
Marking of Fishing Gear adopted at the FAO
Committee of Fisheries Meeting (July).
• Second phase focused on scoping net marking at
manufacture level & a pilot scheme for reporting
lost gear and a gear recovery & recycling
programme.
Gear marking in Indonesia
www.ghostgear.org
www.ghostgear.org
www.ghostgear.org
Contact – GGGI Secretariat:
+1 7 787 729 408
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