Ghost Gear Report - 6

WWF CALLS ON GOVERNMENTS TO:

AS OF TODAY,
THERE IS NO
INTERNATIONAL
TREATY
IN PLACE
DEDICATED
TO TACKLING
MARINE
PLASTIC
POLLUTION.

● Adopt appropriate fishing gear best management practices. The Global
Ghost Gear Initiative's (GGGI) Best Practice Framework for the Management
of Fishing Gear (BPF) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations (FAO) Voluntary Guidelines on the Marking of Fishing Gear (VGMFG),
serve as progressive and comprehensive guides to assess and manage fisheryspecific ghost gear problems. Governments can use these documents to assess their
own fisheries management practices to determine where improvements can be
made.
● Join the Global Ghost Gear Initiative. The GGGI is the world's only global
cross-sectoral alliance committed to driving solutions to the ghost gear problem. By
joining the GGGI, countries will access critical technical support to address ghost
gear in their national fisheries, contribute to the collective impact of GGGI and its
members, and assist in developing global capacity to solve this problem throughout
our ocean.
● Support the establishment of a new treaty to stop marine plastic
pollution. Ghost gear prevention is a classic example of a global problem that
requires a coordinated global response but, the current existing legal framework
covering marine plastic pollution and ghost gear is fragmented and ineffective. It is
abundantly clear that the problem cannot be solved on a national or regional level,
or through non-binding, voluntary measures alone.

WWF CALLS ON FISHING GEAR
DESIGNERS AND PRODUCERS TO:
● Design and manufacture fishing gear that is traceable. Designers and
producers should design and build gear that is traceable through marking its
key components like ropes, net panels, traps, and tracking buoys. This will allow
fisheries managers to keep track of their gear, support effective recovery efforts
and also help combat illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing which
significantly contributes to gear loss. And it will allow for effective inventorying of
how much gear is being used in a fishery, helping to quantify how much is lost in
the ocean, and supporting market analysis for Extended Producer Responsibility
(EPR) schemes.
● Design and manufacture fishing gear that is recyclable. Gear that is
recyclable does not include mixed polymers, and is easily dismantled so recyclable
components can be separated from non-recyclable components. Designers and
producers should design and build fishing gear with proper recycling and end-oflife disposal in mind; and support effective EPR schemes for fishing gear.
● Design and manufacture gear that becomes unharmful if lost at sea.
Including as much biodegradable materials in fishing gear as possible ensures that
lost gear will not persist in the ocean indefinitely. Designers and producers should
design traps and pots with effective escape mechanisms and include biodegradable
mechanisms that allow the traps to become disabled if they are lost; and collaborate
with fishers to research and test improved gear designs.

Ghost Gear Report

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ghost Gear Report