Lost and abandoned fishing gear - ghost gear - entangles and kills hundreds of thousands of marine animals annually, causing prolonged suffering and ecological damage.
Ghost gear represents a significant source of preventable wildlife suffering. Entangled marine mammals, turtles, and seabirds experience prolonged distress - often dying over hours, days, or weeks from drowning, starvation, infection, or physical injury from constricting nets. The scale of impact is enormous but largely invisible to consumers. Prevention through improved fishing practices, mandatory gear marking, and enhanced retrieval reporting is achievable. Consumer pressure on seafood companies to adopt responsible gear management policies is an important lever.