Tromsø, 14 Octorber 2024 

Last week, I had the unique opportunity to join a ghost gear retrieval mission off the coast of Norway. As a PhD fellow working on the Dsolve project, "Biodegradable plastic for marine applications", this was an important and timely experience for me. The Dsolve project is focused on developing and promoting biodegradable alternatives to conventional fishing gear, and seeing the scale of the ghost gear problem firsthand reinforced the urgency of our mission.

During this expedition, Dsolve collaborated with the Norwegian Directorate of Fisheries to retrieve and document ghost fishing gear and marine litter caused by fishing activities. This knowledge is crucial for the development and implementation of new biodegradable materials in fishing gear, which will help reduce ghost fishing in the future. The expedition took place on UiT's research vessel, FF Helmer Hanssen, and was a joint effort between Dsolve, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and the Directorate of Fisheries. Researchers from several project partners, including NORSUS, SINTEF, and Norner AS, were also on board, working together to assess the environmental damage caused by lost or abandoned gear and to collect vital data for sustainable innovations.

In the expedition, the Directorate of Fisheries relied heavily on reports from fishers to locate lost gear. With their help, we were able to pinpoint where king crab pots and gillnets had been lost. Using specialized equipment, we retrieved many of these items, and the amount of marine life caught in them underscored the devastating impact of ghost fishing.

One of the biggest challenges we faced was retrieving lost gillnets. Unlike pots, which are relatively easier to locate and haul up, gillnets often become entangled with the seafloor, making them extremely difficult to recover. These nets can stretch over large areas and, when lost, continue to catch marine life indiscriminately. The tangled nature of the nets, combined with their often-hidden locations, makes retrieval a labor-intensive and technically challenging process. However, it’s vital to remove them, as they continue ghost fishing for long periods, trapping fish and other marine creatures long after being abandoned.

While retrieving pots is also challenging, it is generally easier compared to gillnets. This is largely due to their more localized structure and the fact that many pots are equipped with modifications, such as escape panels. These panels, typically fitted with cotton escape threads, degrade over time, allowing trapped crabs or fish to escape if the pot is lost. This simple yet effective design drastically reduces the unintended consequences of lost gear and highlights the importance of ongoing research and innovations like the biodegradable materials we are developing at Dsolve. Such modifications play a crucial role in mitigating the environmental impact of ghost gear.

The NRK film crew was also on board to document our efforts, helping to raise public awareness about the scale of the ghost fishing problem (you can watch the coverage here, starting from 10:25). Public outreach like this is essential to gain broader support for sustainable fishing practices and to encourage the reporting of lost fishing gear and the widespread adoption of biodegradable gear.