International marine conservation organisations along with local fishermen removed more than 25 tonne of trash from the sea around the Greek Ionian Island of Ithaca, WPTV reported. The divers removed around 25 abandoned or lost fishing nets called ‘ghost nets’ from the sea in the last two weeks.
A clip shared by Now This News on Twitter showed the divers picking up fishing nets from the sea bed. A crane attached to a barge was also seen lifting and depositing the waste material in large bins.
The clean-up activity was organised by Healthy Seas and an international non-profit group, Ghost Divers, ahead of World Oceans Day on June 8.
Watch the video here:
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PremiumPremiumWatch how these volunteer divers and local fishermen pulled more than 25 tons of waste from the sea 😱 pic.twitter.com/xsnLYS9gE6
— NowThis (@nowthisnews) June 7, 2022
Healthy Seas in a press release said the collected waste material would be recycled into yarn for making socks, swimwear, activewear and carpets. It also noted that most of the waste was left behind by a fish farm that shut down.
The press release also said that 6,40,000 tonne fishing gear is lost or abandoned every year in the seas and oceans. “The phenomenon takes the name ‘ghost fishing’ because the nets appear almost invisible underwater trapping and killing all manner of marine animals,” the press release said.
Veronika Mikos, the director of Healthy Seas, was quoted as saying in the press release, “The main difference of this ghost net cleanup project is that the owner of the abandoned fishing gear we discovered and removed, has a name. We have confronted this environmental crime 2 years in a row, worked toward restoring it, as well as understanding who is responsible and, in a position, to do something about it. The matter is very complicated.”
