Fishing gear used around the world is sometimes abandoned, lost, or discarded at sea. It impacts marine life and the livelihoods of coastal communities that rely on healthy oceans and is called “ghost fishing gear”.

The communities from the Gulf of Tribugá understand this problem and are collaborating with ECOMARES in the participatory design of a management strategy to prevent, mitigate, and remediate the damages caused by ghost fishing gear on biodiversity.

Fishers are identifying simple but effective measures to prevent or mitigate the loss of fishing gear. A local group is using diving as a tool to maintain rocky reefs and mangroves free from ghost fishing gear.

After cleaning events, the big challenge is to recycle the materials retrieved, and we are making progress thanks to the sum of efforts by different stakeholders, institutions, and project allies.

Improving communication between fishers and divers is another challenge.