Imagine diving into clear blue water. Schools of fish dart past. Coral fans sway gently with the current. And then you see it—a net, tattered and tangled, drifting like a shadow.
Silent. Suspended. Deadly.
This is ghost gear. And it’s one of the most lethal forms of plastic pollution in the ocean.
What is ghost gear?
Ghost gear is any fishing equipment that’s been abandoned, lost, or discarded in the ocean. Nets, lines, ropes, crab pots, fish traps—they’re all part of the problem, lingering long after their intended use. And while these tools are no longer under human control, they continue to do exactly what they were designed to do: catch and kill.
Unlike a plastic bottle or candy wrapper, ghost gear is an apex predator. It’s a persistent threat that quietly damages marine ecosystems long after it’s been forgotten. But unlike natural predators, this one doesn’t belong—and we have the power to remove it.
A Predator With No Expiration Date
Every year, over 640,000 tons of ghost gear are left behind in the ocean. That’s heavier than the entire blue whale population on Earth. That’s more than the weight of 50,000 school buses, drifting silently through the sea.
And unlike natural materials, most ghost gear is made from synthetic plastics that can take hundreds of years to break down. Until then, it drifts with the currents—snagging on reefs, ensnaring marine life, and gathering debris along the way like a slow-moving tumbleweed beneath the waves.
Turtles can mistake floating nets for jellyfish. Dolphins sometimes become entangled while hunting. Whales may swim into drifting lines they can’t avoid. Even seabirds diving for fish can get caught and struggle to break free.
And coral reefs? They’re far from immune.
How Ghost Gear Attacks Coral Reefs
Corals may look like rocks, but they’re actually living animals—sensitive and essential to ocean life. When ghost gear makes contact, it can damage coral structures by breaking pieces loose, blocking the sunlight they need to grow, and leaving them more vulnerable to stress and disease.
The damage isn’t just physical. Ghost gear breaks the reef’s rhythm. It disrupts the fish populations corals rely on. It alters water flow and reshapes entire ecosystems. It can take decades for a reef to recover—if it recovers at all.
For reefs already stressed by heat, pollution, and acidification, ghost gear can be the final blow.
Where It Comes From
Some gear is lost during storms. Some is cut loose when it snags on something deep below. Sometimes fishers abandon damaged nets because there’s no place to dispose of them—or because they’re operating illegally and need to vanish quickly.
In crowded waters, gear gets tangled or buried. In remote waters, it’s simply lost or forgotten.
But it doesn’t stay gone. Ghost gear drifts across oceans, washing ashore in one country after being lost in another. It’s a global problem with no borders.
The Human Fingerprint
You’re closer to ghost gear than you may think.
Every time we eat seafood, we support a supply chain that may be contributing to the problem—especially if the source isn’t traceable or sustainable. Every plastic product we buy reinforces a system that makes cheap, durable, disposable gear the default.
Even tourism plays a role. Boats, anchor lines, beach litter, broken snorkeling gear—if it ends up in the water and stays there, it can become ghost gear too.
Fighting Back
The good news? People are doing something about it. WE are doing something about it.
In 2023, 11.3 kilometers (roughly 7 miles) of illegal fishing nets were confiscated by patrol boats in Tela, Honduras. In 2024, 4.4 kilometers of illegal fishing nets and 159 pieces of illegal fishing gear (gillnets, cast nets, and harpoons) were confiscated by patrol boats in Honduras.
In addition to our work, divers are pulling nets off coral reefs, one tangled mess at a time. Conservation groups are tracking gear hotspots using satellites and drones. Scientists are designing biodegradable nets that break down instead of lingering forever. Some fisheries are switching to gear that’s easier to find and retrieve.
And ordinary people are helping too—by asking where their seafood comes from. By supporting organizations removing ghost gear and picking up that fishing line they find on the beach instead of walking past it.
It doesn’t take much to make a dent. But it takes awareness to act.
Let’s Call It What It Is
This isn’t just litter, it’s a trap. A plastic predator that kills indiscriminately, without pause, without oversight, and without borders. If we care about coral reefs, marine life, and the health of our oceans, then addressing ghost gear has to be part of the conversation.
We need awareness. We need pressure on the industries and governments that allow ghost gear to pile up. And we need more people who are willing to see what lies beneath the surface—and fight for what’s still living there.
Because reefs can’t pull nets off themselves. But we can.
