Post by : Shakul

Phang Nga, Thailand — Marine conservation teams have successfully retrieved a massive haul of abandoned fishing gear and ghost nets from deep‑sea coral reefs in Mu Ko Similan National Park, helping protect endangered marine species and fragile underwater habitats. The operation recovered about 2 tonnes of entangled gear from the reef off Koh Payan (Similan No. 3) in Andaman Sea waters, local authorities and park officials said.

Rangers on patrol spotted two large fish aggregating devices (FADs) drifting near the island that had collected lost fishing nets and rope. These ghost nets — discarded or abandoned nets that continue to drift at sea — had wrapped around slow‑growing sea fan corals, threatening important reef structures and marine animals such as turtles, dolphins and sharks.

Careful Recovery and Conservation Effort

A specialist dive team was deployed to carefully remove the gear without causing further reef damage. After assessing the site about 45 metres below the surface, divers disentangled the vast mass of netting and lifted it to the surface for proper disposal. The combined weight of FADs and ghost nets recovered was around 2 000 kg, underscoring the scale of discarded fishing gear that can accumulate in protected marine areas.

Officials noted that ghost nets pose a serious ecological threat because they can continue capturing and killing marine life long after being abandoned, and can break or smother corals that take decades or more to grow. Removing the entangled gear helps protect the Similan Islands’ unique underwater ecosystem, which is renowned for its biodiversity and popular with divers from around the world

#Thailand News #Global #world