Almost 10 tonnes of abandoned foreign gillnets have been recovered and disposed of from inside the Australian Exclusive Economic Zone and Torres Strait Protected Zone.
The Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA) worked in partnership with Maritime Border Command in the Australian Border Force (ABF), Parks Australia and the Torres Strait Regional Authority’s Malu K’iai Rangers from Boigu Island on the recovery operation.
The three gillnets were inspected for marine fauna and one protected turtle was rescued, and released alive, after becoming entangled. The nets weighed 9.6 tonnes and were approximately 1.3 kilometres long.
“Abandoned fishing nets are a global problem and present a major risk to the marine environment and safe navigation,” said AFMA general manager of operations, Peter Venslovas.
“AFMA will continue to work closely with other agencies to address the operational challenges of locating, recovering and disposing of these nets.”
Parks Australia spokesperson Bianca Priest said retrieving these nets before they drifted into Commonwealth Marine Reserves was crucial.
“Significant collaborative effort is provided from multiple government agencies to ensure marine debris is removed from our oceans,” Ms Priest said. “Large drifts of abandoned fishing nets are a threat to marine life and can damage sensitive marine habitats.
