Ghost fishing is one of the most principal impact of lost or abandoned fishing gear in ocean. When they are no longer under the control of fishermen, gillnet, trap or others fishing gear continued to trap a lot of marine animals without distinction. This can be fish, marine mammals or birds, some of which species qualified in danger or threatened.
The capacity and duration of ghost fishing depends on the state of the fishing gear and environmental conditions at the time of loss or abandonment and can last for several years.
Besides, marine animals caught in used fishing gear become bait and attract predators that may become trapped in their turn.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations defined the phenomenon of ghost fishing as a problem for marine ecosystems in the early 1980s.
In order to find out more about the impacts of ghost fishing on marine fauna, please do not hesitate to inform us during your observations on Fish & Click, if a species has become trapped in the fishing gear you have reported.
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