Plastic gear loss estimates from remote observation of industrial fishing activity

Abstract

The amount and distribution of marine debris have been substantially increasing over recent decades, causing immense ecological and socioeconomic problems (Amon et al., 2020;Galloway et al., 2017;Li et al., 2016). Abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), otherwise known as derelict gear, from the world's estimated 4.6 million marine fishing vessels is particularly a harmful component of marine litter (FAO, 2000;Li et al., 2016). Because of the expansion of fishing effort in the last decade and the transition to synthetic and more durable materials for fishing gear, the quantity, distribution and adverse effects of ALDFG have likely increased (Derraik, 2002;

Microplastics Derived from Commercial Fishing Activities

“…Hence, dolly ropes and trawl mats are not included, and we believe they contribute significantly to the total amount. The number of microplastics from lost and abandoned fishing gear is estimated to be 45000 tons [23]. This number is almost 10 times higher than our calculation but can make sense since lost and abandoned gear are complete, not only fragments.…”

“…Lost and abandoned gear causes severe problems, such as ghost fishing [22] and entanglement [2]. A recent report claims that lost and abandoned fishing gear contributes to more than 45000 tons of plastic pollution annually [23].…”

Determination And Environmental Risk Assessment Of Organophosphorus Flame Retardants In Sediments Of The South China Sea

“…The ship activities might also improve the level of OPFRs in the SCS (Peng et al 2019). The waste discarded in the process of ship transportation is a possible source of OPFRs in the SCS (Cai et al 2018), especially the plastic products such as derelict shing gear (Kuczenski et al 2021).…”

A transdisciplinary approach to reducing global plastic pollution

“…Plastics are categorized by chemical/material properties and size. Macroplastics are >5 mm 3 and include everyday items (e.g., furniture, textiles) (Khalid Ageel et al, 2022), fishing gear (Valderrama Ballesteros et al, 2018;Kuczenski et al, 2022), roads (Evangeliou et al, 2020;Brahney et al, 2021), pipes (Al-Malack, 2001, housing insulation (Huang and Tsuang, 2014), and paints (Dibke et al, 2021;Paruta et al, 2022) plastics are ubiquitous.…”