El viaje de la Comisión científica al Pacífico

Joop Coolen

Ghost fishing mainly describes the problem where lost fishing gear remains catching fish. Fishing nets are deliberately placed around shipwrecks and become torn. Next, hooks from anglers become strangled, but the bait still lures fish. The carcasses of the fish can then lure crabs. Apart from this there is a high amount of pollution due to plastic, lines and plummets which are left behind. This should be incorporated within the phenomenon known as ghost fishing. For the ecology of the whole North Sea it probably does not have a significant impact, so the effect on the fish stocks might not be very large. However, the animals are beautiful and they simply do not need to suffer like this. Too few people know about this torturing of sea animals. It would be far better if whole of The Netherlands knows about the problem. So it is time for the marine biologists and nature protection organisations, like us, to do something and to show that the gillnet fisheries and the free time anglers are causing a problem. The gillnets remain stuck behind shipwrecks and the anglers waste a lot of fishing lines, hooks and plummets, but eventually the polluter has to pay.

Cor Kuijvenhoven

Because shipwrecks are so full of life, fishermen place their nets close to a wreck. They do this with the risk of losing their nets when they are torn away, but then the nets might remain their fishing capabilities. Useless to anyone, the fish will die resulting in the phenomenon known as ghost fishing. Some distinction in phases can be seen. First a fishing net will adhere to a wreck. Next, the hooks of the anglers will get stuck in this net with all kinds of plastic lures. These will attract the fishes and the effect keeps getting worse.

Ghost fishing is known for a relatively short amount of time. This is because nobody ever noticed the amount of human materials in the sea. However, more and more attention is paid to the threats to shipwrecks. Still, people know very little about the North Sea, which is actually our own back garden. And ghost fishing is really a waste of beautiful creatures. We really have to show this to the fishermen as well, so they can help us finding a solution. Especially to the gillnet fisheries and the anglers, which are the main causes of the problem. Their impact on the fish stocks is much bigger than in the past.

We also have to make sure ghost fishing attracts some attention from the public. They often don’t even know the notion of ghost fishing, partly because they cannot see it since it is under water. However, even with attention from the public, it is hard to solve these problems. There is no oversight and it is going to be hard to establish any form of control. Perhaps with some help from the government we can end this meaningless torture of sea animals. In the end, it is the responsibility of the government and of the fisheries. The polluter has to pay and the government has to establish some sort of oversight and has to form laws. At the moment, the rules only apply to commercial interesting species. Of course, the consumer can pay as well for quality and durability of their food.

Ben Stiefelhagen

Ghost fishing describes the phenomenon where torn fishing gear, primarily gillnets, keeps on fishing after it has been lost. Fishing lines can adhere to the nets and this brings a lot of plummets and hooks in the water. This lead pollution is connected to ghost fishing and thus should be incorporated within the problem. The whole issue is that nobody wonders what

happens with the fishing gear which is left behind. Of course the fishermen have to buy a new net, but if they make a good cod catch for four times they earned their nets back. So, it is often profitable to fish around a shipwreck even with the risk of losing your net. And since money is often very important, the fisheries are more important to the government compared to interest groups. So, even if biologists witness a problem here, politicians will most likely not change a thing.

There is a clear accumulation of fishing gear at a shipwreck. First a gillnet can rip off and all sort of anchors, hooks and lines get stuck in this net. So the problem becomes worse and worse. This is why the gillnet fisheries have the biggest impact. If it starts with one of their nets, the problem gradually becomes bigger. Of course this is dependent of the location. If you are relative close to the coast, then you will find lots of fishing lines. Further on the sea you will find a higher amount of fishing nets. On some shipwrecks, life is not possible anymore, due to a complete cover of fishing gear.

The crabs and lobsters probably suffer the most from ghost fishing. They get stuck quite easily and are attracted to the cadavers which are already present. However, fishing nets which got adhered to a wreck relative recently, can catch a lot of fish as well. But it has to be anchored to the wreck at multiple places otherwise it will whirl into a rope which lacks any catch efficiency. This is something the fishermen claim to be the future of lost fishing nets. They often keep denying the truth, which is a shame. Because nets which maintain their three-dimensional structure can keep on fishing for a long time. Thus, the responsibility for solving this problem lies at these fishermen. Besides, the polluter has to pay, so any costs should be paid by them as well. It would be much better if they would fish with small boats which don’t have the force to demolish everything. Such as some professional anglers, they try to be sustainable.

The shipwrecks are beautiful, but a lot of things have changed over time. These days it is a lot if you meet five cod on one shipwreck. That is a complete different picture compared to the past. However, in the past nobody believed ghost fishing was a problem. It seems to be bigger nowadays and people start to listen, but there are still far too few people paying attention to the problem.

Klaudie Bartelink

Ghost fishing is a form of fishing without any activity from a fisher. It exists of fishing nets and hooks which continue to catch fish. It is also called ghost fishing because it is invisible to humanity. When humans do not see a phenomenon, they often say it is not important. But a recently lost gillnet can be full with cod; the amount can sometimes be in the twenties, and you can see those things regularly when your are diving. A net which is lost earlier in time primarily contains crabs. The worst about this problem is the fact that the shipwrecks are the last save havens of these animals in a dangerous sea. And their deaths are useless; serving no point whatsoever.

There are some people who give their attention to the problem, especially for the amount of fishing lines which are lost. But ghost fishing has a very low priority in the politics. There is only a policy in regard with fishes and nature which can be consumed or are useful. But there is hardly any real protection. So it is our task to convince them of the waste problem which is linked to ghost fishing. However, the problem of ghost fishing as well is that the politicians do not know where to place it in the ministry, let alone how to make policy to deal with it.

Another way to reach solutions is a good cooperation with the fishermen. For example the professional anglers, they are really sustainable and do not have a big impact. However, it is far more difficult to reach the gillnet fisheries, since they are not really organized. They

probably will not leave shipwrecks alone, unless it becomes a marine protected area. And that would leave us with the problem of how to gain any oversight on these protected areas. There is no way we can relate a piece of net to a specific person, unless we can mark the whole net. And even if we can, the sanctions in the Netherlands are minimal.

But still, the gillnet fisheries really have to be coped with, because they are the main cause for the problem. With no nets adhered to wrecks, anglers would lose far less fishing lines. So the gillnet fisheries have the main responsibility in solving this problem. After all, the polluter has to pay. But perhaps there is a chance that they are dependent on this type of fishing.

Annet van Aarsen

Ghost fishing is lost fishing gear which remains in the sea and keeps catching sea animals. Fishermen usually say that it is not a big problem and authorities only look at commercially exploitable species, like cod. There is indeed not always a problem, but sometimes a new gillnet is present and it can contain around ten dead cod. So, there is a large difference in impact between shipwrecks for the cod. Still, many people do not see the damage because it is under water, which is why they say it is not a problem. But for divers it is terrible to witness the change from a beautiful place to a graveyard.

There are a lot of different opinions about shipwrecks. Some say it is human rubble, which does not belong in the North Sea. Others look at the historical value, the fact that wrecks are important birthplaces for marine species or the fact that it is one of the few hard substrates left in the North Sea. But many do not know what the North Sea really looks like. That is why it is really hard to do policy making for this problem.

The main problem is the gillnet fisheries. Their fleet becomes bigger and they claim to fish for cod only in the winter. But even in the summer, divers find new cod gillnets adhered to wrecks. Therefore, it is really strange that the gillnet fisheries earned a blue MSC ecolabel. But the control is scarce and the nets should become labelled for some oversight. Furthermore there are the fishing lines. Not all of the anglers have a big impact, but a lot of sport anglers just throw one line after another in the water, and keep losing them. This way, a lot of lines, plummets and hooks end up at ship wrecks. So it is those two fisheries which should be held responsible. However, the actual problem is that nobody can see it and that nobody knows the beauty of the shipwrecks. To solve this problem, foundation ‘Duik de Noordzee schoon’ cleans the shipwrecks.

If any control or policy is formed, expenses should be paid by the government. Letting the fishermen pay is not an option, because economical they have an hard time. This is especially the case, if they are prohibited to fish on the wrecks. It should also be noted that a clear difference can be noticed between wrecks at the west coast and above the Frisian Islands. The fleets of the gillnet fisheries are harbored in the west coast, which is probably why there are far less gillnets visible at shipwrecks above the Frisian Islands. This is clearly correlated to the amount of captured animals, resulting in far more victims at the West coast. Martin Bakker

When fishermen try to pull back their nets or fishing lines they sometimes discover it is stuck. This leaves them with no other option but to leave their fishing gear behind. Sadly, fishes are still lured by the bait. They become trapped and will eventually die. This is known as ghost fishing and is characterized by fish skeletons waving in the stream. Fishing lines have an important impact on ghost fishing, but there is a large spatial difference. There are a few common popular harbours for sport anglers and most charters remain within a radius of

about twenty miles of those harbours. In these areas there are a lot of fishing lines adhered to shipwrecks, resulting in more fishes trapped by the hooks compared to other areas. Something has to be done about this, especially because the amount of sport anglers keeps increasing. Besides, they are not dependent on their catches, they just throw them back in the water where they become food for the gulls. So there should really be some policy implementation for this problem. It would be far better for the restoration of fishes if the sport anglers would fish in periods. Or if some wrecks are available for sport fishing and others are prohibited areas.

Ghost fishing on itself does not deserve urgent attention. It only distracts people from the important threats to the sea, like the overexploitation of many fish species. The fact that we do not have any shoals of cod is disturbing. Lost gillnets adhered to wrecks might have an impact on this issue, but we need to look at things in perspective. Big trawlers have a much larger impact at sea life than ghost fishing can possibly obtain.

Marck Feller

Ghost fishing is the catching of sea animals with an unintended death as a result. It often occurs at shipwrecks except for those, which sank within the last decade or are very old, wooden ships. But if the wreck has some snags, then there is always fishing gear visible. Close to the coast, at the commercially popular wrecks there are hundreds of fishing lines left behind by sport anglers. Further away there are less lines visible. Still, their overall impact is probably less than the impact of the gillnet fisheries. This is of course dependent on the losing rate of this type of fisheries, but a lost gillnet which becomes adhered to a wreck always catches some cod or crab. However, the image of ghost fishing looks more dramatic than it actually is. Compared to other problems of the sea, the impact of ghost fishing is probably not that high for the ecosystem. Simply said, the problem is that the animals are tortured to death in an awful way, but the sea has bigger problems than ghost fishing. Pollution is a really dangerous threat. A lot of lead enter the water annually and the wrecks are littered with plummets. Besides, a lot of cans, crisp bags and other rubble are thrown in the water and end up at the sea-bottom. Another example of pollution is the recent fact that tons of sewage water are ‘accidently’ dumped in marine waters. Those issues are much more important and politics should focus on these problems.

Still, it would be helpful if the gillnet fisheries or the sport anglers are limited. Or if some wrecks are prohibited areas and no fisheries are allowed at these places. The fines for leaving waste behind should be substantially increased anyway, they are too low and can help soften the problem. After all, it is sad that the wrecks are the only safe places of the North Sea, and now it turns out that these havens seems to be dangerous for marine life instead of safe. The initiatives to help marine wildlife are not very effective, because fishes die very quickly after they have been caught or they become incredible entangled, making it impossible to help them without lethally damaging them.