About 100,000 whales, turtles, dolphins and seals get caught by these ghost nets every year and some of them lost their lives just because they were not able to push themselves out of those nets. The ghost nets are becoming a killer machine for marine life, these nets are responsible for more than 20% of the destruction of coral reefs.
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As per the radioactive dating and
other evidence, our earth is 4.5 Billion years old. It was all good until the
human species came under existence and started to build for their sustainability.
The ecosystem was affected, the food chain had been disturbed and the overall
quality of life was started to decrease. One of the most affected areas of
human species is marine life. About 8 million tons of waste is dumped into the
ocean, every year out of which 600,000 to 800,000 tonnes are of fishing nets and
other fishing equipment. This waste reaches the sea beds and start to destroy
marine life.
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About 100,000 whales, turtles,
dolphins and seals get caught by these ghost nets every year and some of them
lost their lives just because they were not able to push themselves out of
those nets. The ghost nets are becoming a killer machine for marine life, these
nets are responsible for more than 20% of the destruction of coral reefs.
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Necessity is the mother of all the invention, this quote suits all of the entrepreneurs. To fight with these
ghosts nets and to save the loss of marine life due to these nets, a company in
Pune, India came out, DSM engineering. They are contracting fishermen for
collecting the abandoned nets in the sea, fishermen are also happy as it will
be providing many benefits to them also, like their reach increasing in the sea
because of the removal of nets, they are also paid for this work and also, there
are fewer chances that an abandoned net gets stuck into the boat propeller.
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The company collects all the abandoned
nets from the fishermen and recycle them and further dividing them into
granules and making useful products which are used for various purposes like an
eco-friendly surfboard. The company is getting raw material from the sea which
helps in cleaning the ocean. Not only in India, but all around the world, many organizations
are working to reduce the ghost nets from the ocean.
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A good net project was started
back in 2019 to raise awareness about the effect that is created by ghost nets.
The ghost nets are converted into the volleyball nets and used for beach
volleyball matches around the world starting from Brazil’s Copacabana Beach. To
highlight the damage done by the nets, these nets are painted with different
marine life artworks. The project was a major success and it is supported by
various organizations like Green Peace, World Animal Protection and Healthy
Seas initiative.
One of the UK’s companies Fourth
Element is using Nylon from these ghost nets and utilizing them in making
wetsuits, rash vests, and swimsuits. The company also works with different
organizations like Global Ghost Gear Initiative and Reef World for enhancing
marine life. In Pakistan, Olive Ridley Project (ORP), a turtle rescue charity
is working with a textile researcher Seher Mirza to work on the different
projects that can be done with the abandoned nets.
The organizations working to re-establish
the natural life of marines needs our support. Prevention is better than cure. They
are curing the marine life, but if we start to protect nature than there will
no need to curing nature as nature can heal itself, as we see this during the nationwide
lockdown. In the last just a single line for all of us, “It can be done alone
but a little support is much better”.
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