Lucy Siegle, Venetia Falconer, Amira Arasteh and Eco-Age joined Aquafil and Healthy Seas on a trip to retrieve more than 4 tonnes of ghost fishing gear off the coast of the Aeolian Islands.
Blue Planet II and Drowning in Plastic have brought global attention to the plastic pollution crisis in our oceans. Of the total plastic waste in the seas, ghost fishing nets – which have been lost or left in the ocean by fishermen – account for nearly 10%, endangering marine life such as whales, dolphins and turtles.
We joined textile manufacturer Aquafil – which transforms collected oceanic and landfill waste into ECONYL® regenerated nylon – on an epic recovery mission by Healthy Seas initiative, during which volunteer technical divers rescued more than 4 tonnes (4,000 kg) of ghost fishing gear from deep waters off the coast of the Aeolian Islands.
Presenter and podcaster Venetia Falconer took over ECONYL®’s instagram stories during the trip, capturing the moment that the incredible Ghost Fishing divers recovered their largest ever net from the seabed. The retrieval of the net took days of preparational dives to ensure its careful removal after it was lost in a storm 10 years ago.
According to a report by UNEP and FAO, 640,000 tonnes of fishing nets are left in the seas and oceans each year. In the Tyrrhenian Sea where the dive took place, endangered bottlenose dolphins, loggerhead sea turtles, sperm whales, and dusky groupers have been found entangled in nets.