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Divers who remove "ghost" fishing gear lost from trawlers will be charged for doing it, the Marine Management Organisation says.

Earlier this month a team from Ghost Fishing UK, an underwater conservation team, joined forces with Healthy Seas, Milliken and Aquafil to clean up the James Eagan Lane, a wreck in Whitsand Bay, South East Cornwall.

They removed more than 100kg of deadly monofilament "ghost net" from the ship, which sank during the Second World War. She had become wreathed in nets lost from fishing boats. They are called "ghost nets" because they carry on their silent killing of marine life and are a hazard for divers.

Now the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) says it is reviewing the rules that apply, and anyone removing ghost gear will have to pay for a licence.

Rich Walker, chairman of Ghost Fishing UK, said they were disappointed."Our discussions with the MMO had stated that we could retrieve marine litter up to a 100kg maximum without a licence.

"The new advice that abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear is not considered marine litter effectively prevents us from operating without a licence. Requiring a licence for any items that have been submerged for more than 12 months also causes problems as it can be almost impossible to say how long a particular piece of litter, abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, or debris has been submerged.

"The only reasonable course of action now available to Ghost Fishing UK is to obtain a MMO licence. We have no objection to going through this process, but it is time-consuming and potentially expensive. "All ghost fishing activities are conducted by volunteers and placing workloads and financial burdens on the volunteers will limit the amount of gear that can be removed in the future by any volunteer-based organisation."

Projects to remove abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear must now be submitted to the MMO as a marine licensing application, "which will allow appropriate consideration of the risks to the historic environment and nature conservation features".

The licensing fee is £50. The MMO said divers could use a lifting bag to remove an object, including marine litter, up to 100kg provided the object has been there for less than 12 months.Beyond that a marine licence is required. It also said that marine litter does not include abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear.