Proceedings of the Untangled symposium: - WSPA

4Summary of problem and solutionworkshop outcomesFishing gearAbandoned, lost or discarded fishing nets, particularlygill/drift nets, were identified as a priority problemrequiring urgent action due to the extent of the problemsthey cause for animals (i.e. number of animals affected)and the type of injuries they cause. Excess pot traps thatare lost and indiscriminately entrap or entangle wildlifewere also identified as a significant problem.A global ban on gill nets was proposed as the ultimatesolution to the problem, although the substantialchallenges that would arise in trying to achieve this banwere acknowledged. Despite these challenges, many feltthat given the significant difference a ban would make,it was worth aiming for. The United Nations has banneddrift nets in international waters (although this ban isoften circumvented) and there are also moves by somenational governments, such as Argentina, to ban therecreational use of gill nets in their own territorial waters,meaning there are precedents that could be built upon.A key source of concern is that there are currently norealistic alternatives to gill nets and a ban is not likelyto stop people from using them due to their efficacyfor catching fish. It was acknowledged that the level ofenforcement required to maintain the ban would be highall over the world.Other solutions focused on a variety of means toenable and incentivise fishermen 2 to safely disposeof their nets on land (for example, an increase in portwaste disposal and recycling facilities for nets) andintroducing better technology to make nets less likely toharm marine animals. Innovative solutions around therecovery of ‘ghost nets’ were put forward, emulatingschemes in places such as Norway, South Korea andHawaii where regular trawls take place to retrieve lostor discarded nets. The potential to recycle ‘end of life’nets (either disposed of in dedicated port waste facilitiesor recovered from the sea via trawls) into energy orother materials was agreed to be a compelling factorin creating both economic and green incentives for netrecycling schemes.A lot of discussion was held about the potentialchallenges of implementing different types of incentiveschemes to prevent fishermen discarding their nets,in particular the fact that it may be difficult to securegovernment funding in many countries, althoughcorporate sponsorship may play a role in this solution.It was emphasised that it would be unlikely to be a ‘onesize fits all’ approach as solutions would have to becatered to the particular markets and circumstancesin different countries. One suggestion was that it couldbe a fisheries-driven process, using a governmentadministrated‘pay to play’ system, linking the costof a license and possible rebates to a fisherman’s abilityto demonstrate that s/he has maintained their gear ingood condition. Within this system penalties wouldbe incurred for the loss of gear. The situation forartisanal fishers would need to be looked at in greatdetail as in many cases they are unlikely to be able toafford to pay extra fees and in such cases the idea ofnet ‘buy-back’ schemes was discussed as a potentialway of encouraging fishermen to maintain gear in agood state of repair, rather than using it until it fallsapart and is lost.With regard to traps, discussion centred on existing newtechnologies that can help make traps less of a danger tomarine animals; these ranged from traps that require onlyone line to traps that have rings or panels that degradeafter a period of time. The use of stiffened line was alsodiscussed and it was noted that this only reduces welfareproblems for some species; it would for example notprevent all whale entanglements. Regulatory measuresto reduce fishing effort with particular regard to thenumber of traps that are set each year were alsodefined as necessary.2In this document the term ‘fishermen’ will be used to refer to people ofboth genders who fish either commercially or recreationally.9