End Ghost Fishing - Demand an International 'Lost Net' Register

  • by: Tommy Leitch
  • recipient: International Fisheries Authories

Each year, thousands of metres of commercial fishing net are lost, snagged on reefs, wrecks and other underwater objects and cut loose by commercial fishing vessels. These loose nets are then left, "ghost-fishing" the oceans, indiscriminately ensnaring marine life for many, many years. 

Demand that your national fisheries authory establish an open-source database - an anonymous registration of the GPS coordinates of lost nets by the offending fishing vessels - so that organisations such as the Ocean Defenders Alliance can locate and retrieve these eternal death traps.

International Government Fisheries Authorities:
Australia: http://www.daff.gov.au/fisheries
USA: http://www.fws.gov/
UK: http://www.defra.gov.uk/

Other nations: please Google Department of Fisheries and Agriculture (Your Country) 

Dear Fisheries Authority.
Each year, thousands of metres of fishing net are cut free from commercial fishing vessels after becoming entangled on underwater objects such as reefs, rocks and shipwrecks.
These nets then become eternal death traps, indiscriminately ensnaring marine life and sealing their long, traumatic demise.
With little or no biodegradable properties, these nets remain in the oceans, killing turtles, fish, whales, dolphins, seals and all other marine life for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Thankfully, ecologically-minded organizations, such as the Ocean Defenders Alliance, voluntarily retrieve these nets and end their killing spree.
Unfortunately, they have no way of knowing where these lost nets are located and are faced with an impossible task.
Commercial fishermen already face a loss of thousands of dollars in equipment and to ask them to be further punished for an honest and regrettable accident is unreasonable.
Please, however, create a statutory obligation for all commercial fishing vessels to anonymously register the GPS coordinates of all lost equipment. This registry may then be used, not to prosecute, but to easily locate and retrieve this netting, ensuring the subsistence and safety of all oceanographic marine life.
With Sincerest thanks 

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