World Animal Protection has created a new award in honour of United Nations worker and former World Animal Protection campaigner, Joanna Toole from Devon, who died in the Ethiopian airlines crash in March.
Joanna, 36, was en route to a UN meeting where she would have hosted a panel on how to tackle abandoned, lost and otherwise discarded fishing gear also known as ghost gear.
Joanna’s father, Adrian Toole, said, “Joanna's work to protect our oceans and the life within them was not a job - it was her life. Since she was a little girl she knew that when she grew up she wanted a job where she could help animals - at World Animal Protection, Ocean Care and at the United Nations she was doing that every day."
In 2014, World Animal Protection’s Sea Change team, co-led by Joanna, established the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), a public-private partnership committed to tackling the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear worldwide.
The Joanna Toole Annual Ghost Gear Solutions Award will be given to the most deserving project that has submitted its strategy to tackle the 640,000 tonnes of ghost gear in our oceans every year.
Entries will be reviewed by experts from the GGGI and World Animal Protection and the winner will receive at least US$40,000.
