Sea Change: you can help tackle ghost fishing gear to save a million lives

Our oceans can be an unsafe place to live. Every year millions of marine animals, including whales, seals, turtles and birds are mutilated and killed by ‘ghost’ fishing gear – nets, lines, and traps that are abandoned, lost or discarded in our oceans. A staggering 640,000 tonnes of gear is left in our oceans each year.

Only together can the public, governments, businesses and fishing organisations protect sea life and ensure a future free from ghost fishing gear. With your help we can tackle the problem at its source and clean up our oceans. You can help save one million marine animals by 2018.

Tackling the problem: what you can do?

As a member of the public, you can:

• Report abandoned fishing gear to the Sea Change website
• Help us photograph the ghost gear fishing problem
• Ask seafood suppliers about how they monitor fishing practices

What has World Animal Protection done?

World Animal Protection puts animals on the global agenda. Why? Because a sustainable future for the planet can only be achieved if both animals and people are part of the solution.

We worked on three ways to protect animals from ghost fishing gear. We: 

• Brought together partners to stop gear being abandoned
• Supported new ways to remove ghost gear from the seas
• Helped to replicate successful local sea animal rescue efforts on a global scale.