The Agriculture and Forestry Ministry has initiated a new project in line with cleaning the seas of abandoned fish nets. These “ghost nets” are to be recycled and reused in manufacturing plastic parts of white goods.
Ghost nets are abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing nets made from synthetic fibers that are left drifting in the world’s oceans. These silent killers can travel vast distances and are difficult to track.
Ghost nets will entangle and eventually kill marine creatures like sea turtles, dolphins, fish, sharks, seabirds, whales, and other living creatures.
Today, ghost nets are a global threat to marine life. Not only do they restrict the natural movement of sea animals, but they can also lead to starvation and suffocation.
The ministry has set a new target for ghost nets, which have become a nightmare for sea creatures. Accordingly, over 100,000 square meters of ghost nets will be removed from the waters by the end of 2023, and the removed ghost nets will be recycled to be used as plastic parts of white goods.
Awareness campaigns on the matter will be carried out throughout several provinces of the country, such as the capital Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, Elazığ, Eskişehir, Konya, Konya, Isparta, Muğla, Samsun and Van. Inland waters are also included in the project.
In the last nine years, the ministry scanned an area of 103 million square meters in 792 regions and removed approximately 800,000 square meters of nets from the waters.
