A diver examines a ghost net off the southern coast of New Zealand’s North Island. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimate around 640,000 metric tonnes of fishing gear - mainly nets - is lost or abandoned in the world’s oceans annually. That’s 10 per cent of all the plastic in the oceans. Most of these nets and lines are made of nylon and can range from lightweight monofilament gill nets - notable for their fine translucent webbing which makes them less visible to fish - to enormous trawler nets and long lines that can be up to 62 miles long. These ghost nets drift on currents or snag on rocks, reefs, and wrecks, continuing to catch fish for potentially decades after their original owners lost track of them.
Rob Wilson and his partner and colleague Serena Cox pore over a chart of Wellington Harbour laid out on his dining table. Days, and even weeks, of preparation are sometimes required before a net can be located and recovered. Nets are rarely in the precise locations where they’ve been reported. This means that multiple search dives as well as analysis of underwater topography and currents may be required of the GFNZ team as they try and establish the exact GPS coordinates of the ghost net.
Seafarer II ferries a team of volunteer divers from non-profit Ghost Fishing New Zealand (GFNZ) to Mahanga Bay on the Miramar Peninsula in Wellington Harbour to recover an abandoned fishing net. GFNZ is part of an international network of volunteer scuba divers and shore based crew dedicated to removing ghost gear, as well as other junk and debris from the ocean. GFNZ has been operating since 2014, though many of the volunteers have been doing salvage dives and clean ups around the Wellington area for more than 15 years.
Volunteer divers gear up for a survey dive to locate a reported ghost net off the Miramar Peninsula in Wellington Harbour. Conditions in Wellington are challenging, especially in winter when divers must contend with cold water, low visibility, choppy seas, and powerful currents. Handling nets underwater at depths of 100 feet or more can also be hazardous, as divers that may already be feeling the anesthetizing effect of nitrogen narcosis risk becoming entangled in the nets themselves. The divers use underwater scooters so that they can cover a large area, while low temperatures demand that they use dry suits to stay warm.
GFNZ founder Rob Wilson sets out on an exploratory dive in search of a reported ghost net in Wellington Harbour. Wilson’s base of operations is his home, a suburban bungalow that has been largely given over to his dive gear, as well as various flotsam he has recovered- everything from 19th century flagons to a nineties camcorder. Wilson has been retrieving ghost gear and other trash from the coastal waters around Wellington for well over a decade. He was one of the youngest divers to certify in New Zealand, and is now among Wellington’s most experienced technical divers.
Volunteer divers move through swaying forest of kelp as they head out in search of a reported ghost net in Wellington Harbour, New Zealand. Kelp grows abundantly in the relatively cold waters off New Zealand’s coastline, and provides an important feeding ground for everything from crabs and sea stars to seals and even orcas. The scooter - or Diver Propulsion Vehicle (DVP) - allows volunteers to cover much greater areas over the course of a single dive, which typically lasts an hour. DVPs are also useful in strong currents.
A tangled ghost net on the seabed clings to the skeletons of a long dead fish in Wellington Bay, New Zealand. Typically, smaller marine animals get trapped in nets that are floating in the water column. Larger species then feed on them and become entangled themselves. Eventually, the net sinks to the bottom of the sea, where it is picked clean and is then likely to ascend back into the water column where the whole cycle begins again. Millions of marine animals are killed by the ghost gear in the oceans each year, including larger species such as whales, dolphins, sharks and turtles.
Volunteer divers prepare to retrieve a net that has anchored itself to the seabed off the coast of the Miramar Peninsula in Wellington Harbour. According to Wilson, it’s a recreational monofilament nylon net that has been in the water for at least two decades, and has collapsed in on itself, creating a 16 feet tall pillar encrusted with dead sea creatures. The team ‘de-critter’ the net, carefully removing any living creatures before dislodging it from the bottom and floating it to the surface with inflatable devices.
The volunteers drag the net on board the Seafarer II so that it can be transported back to the harbor. Once on board, the net is further ‘de-crittered’ before being hosed down to remove two decades worth of mud and debris. Underneath, the net looks brand new - and this is the point: nets like this one can survive in the ocean for centuries. This diving trip, as well as many others around the world, has taken place in the framework of the Healthy Seas initiative, which collects nets with help from GFNZ and other volunteer diving groups. Instead of ending up in landfill, they are sent to Slovenia and regenerated into brand new ECONYL nylon thread for fashion and homeware products.