environment

Kiwi divers tackle ‘ghost fishing’ phenomenon

The first time that Rob Wilson went diving for old fishing nets, lost sinkers and abandoned truck tyres on Wellington’s seabed, he absolutely hated it.

“There was terrible visibility; I couldn’t see a thing. There were bottles and cans strewn across the seabed. It was a pretty horrible experience,” he recalls. But then he was drawn back into the murk. “The more I did it, the more I got a sense of achievement; that we were helping the environment, and fighting for our kids’ future.”

A decade on from those first dives, Wilson now heads Ghost Fishing NZ, a volunteer organisation aiming to clean up our oceans of the man-made rubbish that is harming the marine environment.

The “ghost fishing” phenomenon first came to the world’s attention in 1985, when an FAO fisheries committee session highlighted the large amounts of fishing gear - either lost at sea, dumped or abandoned by fishermen - that were continuing to catch and kill fish and other marine life at the bottom of the ocean. An estimated 640,000 tonnes of discarded fishing gear is added to the world’s oceans every year.

The “ghost gear” – nets, lines and fishing traps – can carry on fishing unattended for decades, not only depleting fish stocks but also impacting on endangered marine species. Creatures that die entangled in the gear then attract scavengers, who face the same death sentence.

A drifting net can also endanger the life of humans, Wilson says. “Nets are probably the most dangerous thing you can come up against as a diver. I’m happy to see a shark; they’re incredible creatures. But if I see a net in the water, I’m terrified. You can get trapped just like a fish.”

Wilson first became involved when Wellington dive shops were organising clean-ups around the coastline. The international Ghost Fishing initiative - which began with salvaging nets from the Dutch North Sea - contacted Wilson when news of the Kiwi clean-ups spread.

“They saw we were doing a good job down here, and wanted to offer us any help or information to do deeper, more technical clean-ups. We picked their brains about equipment and how to do technical lifts from the harbour, like big truck tyres,” Wilson says. Then in 2014, Wilson’s dive team became part of the Ghost Fishing movement.

While most of Ghost Fishing NZ’s work has been done in the waters around Wellington, where dives are held every 2-3 weeks, the group is about to start clean-ups in Auckland and Picton.

“We’re really starting to branch out and raise awareness of this problem. It’s the goal of Ghost Fishing to get around the country to set up and train teams in how to do things safely, which is paramount,” says Wilson, a professional photographer, who also refers to himself as a “muck diver”.

In January, a clean-up dive off Taranaki Wharf on Wellington’s waterfront – in poor visibility and choppy seas - produced a record plunder of pollutants.

“First, I was one of two divers, who within a 60-minute dive frame, collected 570 bottles, 263 cans and an assortment of plastic bags. It was hauled up by people on the surface with ropes, and we had no idea how much rubbish we were amassing. But it turned out to be an incredible amount of stuff,” he says.

“Then we went back with the whole team, and hauled in 43 truck tyres and 8000 litres of junk - the largest haul in our history.

“I don’t necessarily see it as the garbage problem is getting worse. I think our team is getting stronger and more effective.”

A Ghost Fishing volunteer removes a tyre from the seabed. Photo: www.frontlinephotography.co.nz

Wellington’s mayor, Justin Lester, is a keen diver who was involved in the mass haul-out. He alone collected four bags of refuse.

“I think Ghost Fishing is a great initiative,” Lester says. “I’ve gone diving with them and it was really encouraging to see them bringing so many Wellingtonians together to clean up our environment. I was shocked at some of the things people were tossing in our harbour.

“Wellington’s environment is one of the things we all love about our city, and we need to protect it. That’s why I’m so supportive of community initiatives like Ghost Fishing, and why our council is looking at ways to improve Wellington’s recycling rates, and do more to limit the damage done by things like single-use plastic bags.”

The Ghost Fishing movement doesn’t only involve divers. Back on land, a “de-critter crew” removes the sea life from items recovered from the seabed. “We have a marine biologist and technician who set up a tank, where they can put the creatures to minimise the stress on them. They obviously don’t know they made a home in a tyre. Some of them go to a marine lab and take up residence there,” Wilson says.

Another shore-based team sorts through the salvaged debris. They often find wallets that can be returned to their owners. Divers also dredged up a motor scooter that had been stolen and driven off the pier.

“Members of the public will randomly stop and offer to help, or hand us money. It’s fantastic,” says Wilson.

Then there is the dilemma of what to do with the collected junk. Monofilament fishing lines are taken to landfill. Glass is given to local artists. Lead from fishing nets or sinkers are melted down to make weights for the dive team.

“Our team of divers is expanding all the time, and we want to upskill people to do double-tank diving. We make them these weights, and it also helps to pay them back for their efforts.” The Wellington-based team currently numbers 12 divers, and five “de-critterers”.

Wellington’s notorious winds make it one of the worst coastlines for pollution. “Anything that’s on the street, ends up in the drains and flows out into the sea,” Wilson says. One of the biggest contaminators Ghost Fishing has uncovered has been plastic-coated parking tickets. Since Wilson raised the problem with the Wellington City Council, it has installed electronic sensors in 3000 carparks in the central city, replacing the need for tickets. Wilson believes it has already made a difference.

Wilson was shocked when he discovered an abandoned set-net in Wellington Harbour for the first time. “The damage it had done on the seafloor was impressive. It was absolutely entwined in everything; it was crazy how much sea life had died in it.”

To measure what impact the clean-up dives are having, Ghost Fishing has joined forces with Global Underwater Explorers (GUE), a world-wide scuba diving organisation formed to educate divers and encourage safe exploration and protection of the underwater world. The two groups are working on Project Baseline, which will map the seabed in areas where Ghost Fishing removes marine litter.

Wilson admits it can be “soul destroying” to return to an area and find it more spoiled than before. “We are up against a monumental enemy – it’s a David and Goliath scenario really,” he says.

“But I look at it as helping the future. It’s about fighting for the kids of the future. I want children to go diving in our marine reserves and oceans and see the incredible things we see now. We’re building a more positive environment for them.

“After seeing four truckloads of junk on the side of the road, waiting to be taken away, I’ll drive home with a tear in my eye, thinking: ‘Wow, we really made a difference’. That feeling of achievement is incredible.”