Our Great Aussie Crab Pot Review team has recently returned from an expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria, to address the growing issue of old and lost recreational fishing gear (also known as ghost gear) and other general marine debris, in northern Australian waters.
The Great Aussie Crab Pot Review is an OceanEarth Foundation initiative, through our Ghost Nets Australia program, in partnership with OzFish Unlimited. The circularity program is the first of its kind in Australia and aims to better understand the causes of the issue, while cleaning-up and recycling ghost gear and exploring preventative avenues. Ghost gear poses a major threat to the health of marine ecosystems, entrapping critical marine wildlife and birds, and degrading our waterways.
Last month, the team joined forces with the Li-Anthawirriyarra Sea Ranger Unit to survey and assess the issue in the popular fishing destination of Borroloola before undertaking a week-long clean-up of the Karumba waterways with Southern Gulf NRM.
As Jess, our GhostNets Australia Program Manager explained, “The clean-ups were really valuable but highlighted the necessity of programs that deal with the root cause of the issue.”
“Cleaning-up ghost gear improves our degraded waterways but the solution to the issue is in preventing this fishing gear being lost of discarded in the first place.”
Despite challenging conditions, including turbid waters, wind, visibility and crocodiles, the group successfully retrieved a considerable amount of recreational fishing ghost gear and other general marine debris from local waterways. They also recovered a shark gill net from the Arafura Sea.
“The expedition revealed surprising insights about the extent of the ghost gear problem across Australia. While Karumba and Borroloola have long been known as accumulation hotspots for recreational fishing ghost gear, our conversations with travelling fishos revealed numerous other sites along the east coast, highlighting the need for expanded clean-up efforts.”
“Creating a future of sustainable waterways relies on our collective commitment to managing the issue of recreational fishing ghost gear.  This is a really exciting program as the recovered ghost gear is to be recycled into useful fishing products, with the proceeds going to support habitat restoration.”
“By engaging with local communities, recreational fishers, and industry stakeholders, we’re working towards long-term solutions that benefit both the environment and future generations of waterway enthusiasts.”
Earlier this year, the Great Aussie Crab Pot Review Survey was launched to gather data about the issue. Survey findings will be used to inform a series of roundtable discussions next month with manufacturers, agencies and fishers, aimed at understanding the scale of the issue and developing solutions to prevent the future build-up of ghost gear.
The Great Aussie Crab Pot Review is a Ghost Nets Innovative Solutions project and has received grant funding from Parks Australia’s Ghost Nets Initiative.