The Untangled: Regional Ghost Gear Workshop took place in Bangkok, Thailand from 1 – 2 March 2023. The workshop was co-hosted by the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia (COBSEA) and the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) with funding support provided by the Government of Canada’s Ghost Gear Fund. The workshop focused on bringing experts from governments, civil society organizations, and businesses to discuss abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG).
H.E. Canadian Ambassador, Sarah Taylor opened the workshop highlighted Canada’s continued support to understand and resolve ghost gear pollution. “Our government has recognized ghost gear as an issue of national importance, and in 2019 established the Ghost Gear Program, which is helping to prevent, retrieve and responsibly dispose of this harmful – and often unintentional – consequence of commercial fishing. A major component of the Program is the Ghost Gear Fund. Through this Fund, Canada is proud to support projects such as those currently being implemented by the Coordinating Body on the Seas of East Asia and the Environmental Justice Foundation. With our international partners, Canada is working with organizations like the Global Ghost Gear Initiative to assist other countries with this collective challenge.”
On behalf of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Jonathan Gilman, Asia Pacific Regional Policy Coordinator, set the context of the workshop by addressing the triple planetary crisis on biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, highlighted UNEP’s 2022 accomplishments, and gave background on the importance to tackle ghost gear. “Fishing gear is designed to catch ocean wildlife for sustenance and livelihood, but according to FAO at least 640,000 tonnes of gear are estimated to be left in the seas every year, and drift for decades entangling and choking whales, dolphins, turtles, seabirds, and even entire coral reefs- essentially becoming floating death traps. It is estimated that 45% of all marine mammals on the Red List of Threatened Species have been impacted by lost or abandoned fishing gear.”
The Regional Ghost Gear Workshop had over 100 participants, both virtual and in-person, from all nine COBSEA participating countries with over 20 guest speakers covering ALDFG retrieval, identification and tracking, monitoring on fishing activities and gear loss, waste management innovation, amongst others. Participants engaged with experts and government officials on addressing challenges and gaps in ALDFG, identifying opportunities, and reviewing regional tools such as the East Asian Regional Node of the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter. One workshop participant beautifully put it as, "Changing a problem into an opportunity." The workshop concluded with a field trip to witness successful fishing gear waste management in the Klong Kor Tor coastal community—part of EJF’s Net Free Seas network of participating communities, examine community waste management challenges in the Si Long coastal community, and tours on recycling ghost gear waste with the Teamplas Chemical Co. Ltd. recycling company.
COBSEA is a regional intergovernmental programme between nine countries in the East Asian Seas region which includes Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. It is part of 18 Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans globally, and is directly administered by the UN Environment Programme. The COBSEA Secretariat is hosted by Thailand in Bangkok.
EJF exists to protect the natural world and defend our basic human right to a secure environment. EJF works internationally to inform policy and drive systemic, durable reforms to protect our environment and defend human rights. EJF is a charity registered in England and Wales (1088128) with offices around the world including in Belgium, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Republic of Korea, Thailand, and the UK.
For more information:
Ms. Natalie HARMS, Programme Officer, COBSEA, Bangkok
Mr. Dominic THOMSON, Southeast Asia Deputy Director/Project Manager, EJF
