Ghost Net Story

Lead up activities at Seafest, 12^th and 13^th September at Quay Square, Barbican, Plymouth & dates at The Plot, PL13EZ

Main Event and Competition day – 3^rd October 11am -3pm at Commercial Wharf, Barbican, Plymouth

Since the 1960’s natural fibre nets and ropes used in the fishing, naval and marine industries have been completely phased out and replaced with synthetic fishing gear. These are strong and long lasting but they never biodegrade. It is estimated that up to 640,000 metric tonnes of lost or discarded nets enter our ocean every year. They are called ghost nets because they carry on pointlessly catching and killing fish and polluting the environment long after the boats have left.

There are many volunteer led organisations working to locate lost nets and remove them. They do amazing work but lost nets are not always reported and the scale of the pollution is too great. We want to contribute to the effort to solve this problem by bringing into focus the net material itself. Can we start a conversation about how some parts of the net using community could return to biodegradable natural fibre nets, using flax? After all, until the 1960’s this is how it was done.

Plymouth is a community rooted in the fishing, naval and marine industries and historically, flax and other natural fibres played a big part in these industries. This pilot project takes us into Plymouth’s heart and soul to explore how we can engage the wider community on the issue of natural fibre nets and ropes and Ghost Nets.

How can we help to raise the profile of the conversation? Is it possible to replace some synthetics nets with natural fibre net and where might this be possible? 

The Naturesave Trust is funded by the activities of Naturesave Insurance, an award-winning broker with over 30 years’ experience in providing ethical and sustainable personal and commercial insurance.