Many animals that get caught or entangled in ghost gear can die a slow and painful death through suffocation or exhaustion.
Ghost gear also damages valuable marine habitats, such as coral reefs and mangroves.
It is estimated that ghost gear makes up at least 10% of marine litter. This roughly translates to between 500,000 and 1 million tons of fishing gear abandoned in the ocean each year. Ghost gear impacts marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles, and more, and is the type of debris that has proven to be the most lethal.
In Mexico’s Upper Gulf of California, for example, abandoned gillnets have contributed to driving the vaquita porpoise to the brink of extinction. WWF has removed over 62 tons of gillnetting in efforts to save the world’s smallest porpoise, but only around 10 individuals remain.