Ghost nets haunt the ocean

those lost fishing nets are a silent killer for ocean life

By Smartasaurus· 1 min read Curious

mile-long plastic net is drifting through the deep ocean right now

Mechanism call

Take a position: what's actually doing the work here?

One of these is closer than the rest. Commit before you find out.

The short version

those lost fishing nets are a silent killer for ocean life
Heavy gillnets don't just sit on the seafloor; they are often caught in deep-sea currents that roll them into massive, weighted bundles.
Some of these nets have been found still catching fish at depths of over 2,000 meters, where no sunlight has ever touched their prey.

Does an object need a human hand to remain a lethal predator? A tangled mass of nylon and polyethylene, lost or discarded at sea, continues to hunt marine life with terrifying efficiency for decades after it is abandoned.

This phenomenon is known as ghost fishing. The gear doesn't stop working just because its owner is gone; it remains perfectly suspended in the water column, catching fish, turtles, and whales in a cycle of capture and decay that feeds itself.

Plastic fibers in modern nets are designed for durability and near-invisibility underwater. When a net snags on a reef or drifts into a current, it begins a process of "self-baiting."

Certify this discovery

Two questions. Prove you actually read it.

Get both right and this discovery is certified: +50 XP toward your next rank. No account needed.

Sources (4) — tap to view