Campaign start a complete success: eleven ghost nets in just four weeks
A Sea Shepherd report
The BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN 2021 started with great success.
During the first four weeks of the campaign on Fehmarn and Rügen (which are among the largest islands in Germany), eleven ghost nets with a salvage weight of more than 900 kilograms and hundreds of fishing lures were recovered from the Baltic Sea. These nets, fish hooks and lines will no longer kill marine animals.
The team spent the first two weeks of the campaign on the island of Fehmarn.
Patrols were carried out almost every day to locate possible ghost nets and finally to lift them. Because even though ghost nets are obviously causing massive damage, finding them and removing them from the ocean is a major challenge.
It takes a lot of preparation, the use of technical equipment and ultimately perseverance as well as great efforts on the part of the crew to eliminate such death traps.
With combined forces, the net is pulled on board. Photo: Robert May / Sea Shepherd
More than 200 kilograms of ghost net
The largest ghost network on Fehmarn was recovered in the lake area in the direction of Puttgarden (District of the island of Fehmarn)
On June 14th, volunteers aboard the EMANUEL BRONNER examined some gillnets that had been deployed in the area.
Gillnets are often used near wrecks to catch cod that find shelter there.
With the help of the underwater robot and a structure scan, the area was examined more closely and various wrecks found.
So the diving team decided to do an exploration dive.
At a depth of 24 meters, the team discovered a massive trawl net about 40 meters long that had become entangled in a wreck.
There were many dead marine animals in the net, including cod in particular, but also starfish and crabs.
What was particularly treacherous about this net were the torn openings through which more and more fish got into the net.
But not all marine animals found their way out again.
“The net was like a prison under water,” explained mission diver Antonia Kirner (Sea Shepherd Germany) after her exploratory dive.
Continue reading “Sea Shepherd: eleven ghost nets in just four weeks destroyed!”