The world's largest ghost gear
collective impact alliance

Senior Director

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Ingrid Giskes has been with the GGGI since its start. She has a background in international policy and has been working in this field for more than ten years. Through her work, she has spent time with artisanal fishers in Vanuatu and Indonesia to mark and track their fishing gear, led government and corporate roundtables, participated in gear removals and presented at high-level policy and industry conferences including APEC, Our Ocean and the UN Ocean Conference. She supported the Fisheries Technology Team at FAO to implement the Voluntary Guidelines for the Marking of Fishing Gear and the development of the Responsible Fishing Operations Umbrella Programme.

Previously, she undertook overseas development work in Cambodia, lectured at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou (China), worked for Amnesty International in Australia on refugee policy, and worked for World Animal Protection for 10 years in a variety of roles including as their International Head of the Sea Change Programme overseeing the ocean portfolio of 15 country offices. She holds a BSc in Germanic Languages and Philosophy, a MSc in Germanic Languages, a MSc in Education and a MSc in International Relations, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution. She is based at Ocean Conservancy’s office in Santa Cruz, California, and travels frequently to wherever ghost gear is on the agenda.

Associate Director

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Prior to taking on the role of GGGI Associate Director, Joel worked for 20 years in the Canadian fishing industry, 13 of which were as Operations Supervisor for Steveston Harbour Authority, Canada’s largest commercial fishing harbour. During his time at Steveston Harbour, Joel started an end-of-life net recycling program to find a sustainable way to dispose of end-of-life fishing nets. Joel is also a recipient of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans Prix d’Excellence (2016) and Individual Commitment Award (2015), and a 2017 Canada’s Clean50 Honouree in relation to his net recycling work. He is also a SeaWeb Seafood Champion nominee (2017) and a SeaWeb Scholar (2017), a past co-Chair for the City of Richmond’s Advisory Committee on the Environment, and a past President of the Harbour Authority Association of British Columbia.

Joel leads on much of the GGGI’s technical work and knowledge products and has participated in numerous technical working groups concerning lost and abandoned fishing gear including the Responsible Fishing Vessel Scheme Technical Working Group V2; the Aquaculture Stewardship Council Technical Advisory Group - Marine Litter and Gear Management; CEN-CENELEC TC466 on circular design of fishing gear; and an IUCN-led working group on development of a position paper on EPR for fishing gear.

Senior Program Manager

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Jaclyn serves as the senior program manager for the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI) at Ocean Conservancy. She coordinates between Ocean Conservancy, GGGI leadership and GGGI’s projects around the globe. Jackie manages GGGI’s US portfolio including policy efforts our signature projects in the Gulf of Maine and Pacific Northwest. She also manages GGGI’s small grants program.

Jaclyn holds a Masters in Coastal Environmental Management from Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, and a certificate in community based environmental management. She is based in Ocean Conservancy’s Washington, DC office. Prior to her role with the GGGI, Jaclyn served as a member of Ocean Conservancy’s digital communications team, helping ocean champions to find their voices as storytellers. She also previously served as the Capitol Hill Ocean Week Manager for the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation, organizing the largest domestic ocean policy conference in the United States.

Partnerships Manager, Corporate

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In November 2021, Sara joined the GGGI team in the role of Partnerships Manager. Her position provides support and tools to GGGI’s private-sector members and establishes new systems to enhance existing partnerships. Sara works closely with members to implement GGGI’s Best Practice Framework by co-developing work plans to substantively reduce the occurrence of gear loss in their supply chains, track and measure progress, and identify opportunities for further engagement and collaboration. She holds a master’s in international environmental policy, and brings a technical skill in marine resource management, grounded in stakeholder engagement, with groups ranging from subsistence fishermen in El Salvador to the U.S. National Marine Sanctuary.

Prior to coming to OC, Sara was a resource planner for the California Coastal Commission, spent time in Mexico as a contractor for the Audubon Society and The Nature Conservancy, and launched an NGO to promote agricultural resilience. She is thrilled to be focusing her efforts on the international space again, and for the opportunity to build expertise around and contribute to an issue as urgently important as ghost gear. Sara’s commitment to marine conservation stems from a childhood spent marveling at life underwater in her native southern California. She enjoys travelling with her family (especially to surf), spearfishing in warm waters, and cooking outside over an open flame.

Coordinator

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Prior to joining GGGI, Laura worked for the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation as the Marine Protected Area (MPA) Tourism Compliance Coordinator for Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties. Working with the MPA Collaborative Network, Laura created comprehensive educational materials designed to facilitate more responsible interactions between tourists and the marine environment. Laura worked with multiple agencies to ensure thorough environmental compliance, including California State Parks, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Before joining the MPA Collaborative Laura held the position of Program Manager for O’Neill Sea Odyssey (OSO), a non-profit marine science education program in the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor. Her primary duties were teaching onboard marine biology, marine ecology, and navigation, curriculum development, and coordinating with donors and schools to create the OSO program. During her tenure at OSO she also served as senior deckhand and logged over 2200 registered sea days on a Coast Guard Certified Vessel, taking plankton samples for microscopic identification. She holds a BA in Humanities from San Francisco State University and a Coastal Navigation certificate from the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Laura is thrilled to be contributing to the important global work that is being done by GGGI.

Laura serves as the Global Ghost Gear Initiative Coordinator at Ocean Conservancy and provides support in all aspects of the GGGI team’s global projects including production of fisher workshops for the Gulf of Maine Project, support for the NANCI project, contract development, web content development and administration of communications through GGGI’s Let’s Talk Ghost Gear webinar, and the GGGI newsletter.

Policy Specialist (Consultant)

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Hannah joins the GGGI team as our full-time, Project Specialist (Consultant). Hannah has been part of the GGGI family since the Initiative’s inception, originally as a member of the Build Evidence Working Group and then sitting on the GGGI’s Expert Advisory Council. Now, as a full-time member of the GGGI leadership team, Hannah supports some of our signature projects including our work in Vanuatu marking and tracking aFADs in the region. Additionally, Hannah is responsible for the development of a number of GGGI technical reports and knowledge products. She also provides expertise supporting our policy and advocacy work. Based on the Central Coast in Australia, Hannah holds a BSc with Honours in Marine Biology and MSc with Distinction in Biodiversity Conservation and brings with her over 10 years of experience working in the marine conservation field.

Prior to her role with GGGI, Hannah spent 8 years with PADI AWARE Foundation (formerly Project AWARE) leading their global Clean Ocean Strategy and was responsible for providing strategic guidance and expertise supporting the organisations policy outcomes as well as ensuring their work was based on sound, credible science. She also managed the organisation’s policy partnerships and stakeholder engagement. As an avid scuba diver and surfer, Hannah has been lucky to have experienced the beauty of our marine world from above and below the water. In turn, she has also seen first-hand the impact that ALDFG causes to the underwater world as well as the challenges associated with removing ghost gear from the ocean.

GGGI Project Coordinator (Consultant) | Latin America

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Claudia´s great passion is to contribute to a better world by promoting change of attitudes, empowering communities to take an active role towards marine conservation. She believes “eco problems” must be significantly approached from the social trenches.

Her education background includes a MSc. in Ecosystem Management, a BSc. in Social Communication and a tech. grade in Journalism.

She is the former coordinator of the Ghost Nets Removal Project at the Upper Gulf of California which led in the removal of more than 1300 nets from the vaquita marina habitat. Also, she is former Executive Director of Pesca ABC and she has worked for more than 12 years in national and international environmental NGOs. Claudia is Prestigious Heritage Award by the Aquarium of the Pacific, 2019 and 1st. Prize at the Sustainability & Journalism National Contest by the World Assoc. of Woman Journalists & Mexican Assoc. of Newspapers Editors, 2008.

Based in Ensenada, Mexico, Claudia’s primary role is to coordinate the GGGI’s North American Net Collection Initiative (NANCI). In addition to setting up a regional system for collection of end-of-life fishing gear and sending it for recycling, the NANCI project also consists of regional capacity building workshops, ALDFG predictive modeling, outreach and education, targeted ALDFG removals, and the creation of a national action plan for ALDFG in Mexico.

Membership Specialist (Consultant)

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Caitie joined the GGGI team in February, 2024 as our Membership Specialist (Consultant) based on the west coast of Canada. She holds a BSc in Marine Biology and a MSc in Environmental Studies, both from the University of Victoria (UVic), and brings experience from multiple marine sectors including ecotourism, fisheries, research, and NGOs. Caitie is passionate about collaborative work, and believes that connecting across multiple disciplines and perspectives is key to overcoming the challenges our oceans face today.

Caitie has been a GGGI member in different capacities since 2018, including via Archipelago Marine Research, UVic’s School of Environmental Studies, and the TBuck Suzuki Foundation. Her introduction to the GGGI at Archipelago inspired her to leave fisheries monitoring to study commercial fishing gear loss in Canada’s Pacific for her MSc. She used fisher surveys and predictive modeling to understand why, and where, commercial fishing gear becomes lost locally and will be publishing her research to contribute to the scientific literature. Most recently, Caitie was the Sustainability Director at the TBuck Suzuki Foundation where she collaborated with local fishers, First Nations, NGOs, and academics to conduct fisheries sustainability projects.

Caitie support a variety of the GGGI’s members including those from academia, NGOs, and the private sector. She also plays an active role in organizing member webinars, fostering new and existing data partnerships, and organizing various member focused meetings.

The Centre for Sustainable Design®

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Professor Martin Charter MBA FRSA is the Founding Director of The Centre for Sustainable Design ® at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) that was established in 1995 and is Senior Associate, Business School for the Creative Industries at UCA. He is a former Visiting Professor in Sustainable Product Design at UCA and presently Professor of Innovation & Sustainability at UCA.

Martin has 30 years’ experience in business sustainability with particular expertise in sustainable innovation, product sustainability and circular economy. He has sat on many international expert committees and advisory boards including World Resources Forum and Eco-innovation Observatory.

Martin led and participated in UK government funded missions and expert groups focused on eco-design and ‘circular economy’ to Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. He is the organiser of the Sustainable Innovation series of international conferences that will reach its 22nd iteration in 2019.

Martin has authored research on new ‘green’ business models, sustainable innovation, product design and remanufacturing and marketing and sustainability; and was the convenor of ISO14006:2011, member of ISO and was UK expert to ISO TR 14062 and is presently convenor of ISO14006: 2018 an expert to BS8001:2017 (‘circular economy’) and IEC/ISO JWG ECD 62959:2018 (eco-design).

Coastal Nations Fisheries

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Guy Dean graduated from the University of British Columbia, Canada with a degree in marine zoology and has been involved in the seafood industry for over 30 years from farmer, harvester, fisher, processor and distributor. He’s currently the President and General Manager of Organic Ocean Seafood, Inc. – a vertically integrated artisanal boutique seafood supplier selling to many top chefs internationally.

Guy is passionate about supporting and promoting the consumption of sustainable seafood and particularly the long-term viability of the seafood industry. Guy was awarded the 2018 ‘Seafood Champion award for Leadership’ by the Ocean Foundation at the Seaweb Seafood summit in Barcelona, Spain. This is the first time a Canadian has ever received this prestigious honor.

Guy sits on the board of multiple industry led foundations within North America including the BC Salmon Marketing Council, Canadian Highly Migratory Species Foundation and a board member of the global ocean conservation organization – Ocean Wise. He also represents the seafood industry, sitting on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Program’s “Multi-Stakeholder Group” – one of only 14 people internationally chosen for this committee. Guy regularly travels globally, where he is an acknowledged speaker and advisor and most recently has advised on SDG 14 at the United Nations as well as contributing to a working paper for the UN-FAO on “Implications of Climate Change for Aquaculture.”

Natural Resources Consultants

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Joan Drinkwin is a partner at Natural Resources Consultants, a Seattle-based fisheries consulting firm known for its expertise in all things abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG). Joan has managed large-scale ALDFG programs in her home state of Washington, overseeing the removal of thousands of lost gillnets and crab pots, coordinating research and outreach campaigns, and facilitating regulatory solutions. She has published journal articles about the impacts of ALDFG on fisheries. Joan has been involved in the Global Ghost Gear Initiative since its inception and has served on the Solutions Working Group and the former Steering Committee. She has written guidance documents on locating ALDFG and created stakeholder fact sheets to accompany the Best Practice Framework for the Management of Fishing Gear. She was an invited member of the advisory committee developing the NOAA Washington State Marine Debris Action Plan and has been called on to advise on working groups of the International Whaling Commission and FAO. She regularly manages projects around ALDFG including recent work in the South Pacific tracking fish aggregating devices.

Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center

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Kirsten Gilardi is a wildlife veterinarian, Co-Director of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center (WHC) and a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Wildlife Health in the Department of Medicine & Epidemiology at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She directs the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, a program she launched in 2006 that works in close collaboration with commercial fishermen to remove more than 140 tons of lost, abandoned and discarded fishing gear and other marine debris from California’s coastal ocean to date. Kirsten earned her DVM at UC Davis in 1993 and joined the staff of the WHC in 1998. She established the WHC’s SeaDoc Society in 2000, and in 2001 she became board-certified by the American College of Zoological Medicine. She is a past President of the American Association of Wildlife Veterinarians. In addition to her work with GESAMP, Gilardi chairs the Build Evidence Working Group of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, and is a member of the West Coast Marine Debris Alliance.

Myanmar Ocean Project

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Thanda is the founder and director of Myanmar Ocean Project, a marine conservation organisation with a mission to restore and protect the health of Myanmar’s ocean. Thanda has been volunteering as a research assistant for Marine Megafauna Foundation’s Myanmar Manta Program before she founded Myanmar Ocean Project after countless encounters with marine life entanglements in ghost nets and witnessing the destruction ghost gear has on marine ecosystems first hand. Working with local fishing communities and organizations, Myanmar Ocean Project conducted the first ever survey of ghost gear in Myanmar’s Myeik Archipelago. Myanmar Ocean Project is a member of Global Ghost Gear Initiative and continues to advocate for solutions to Myanmar’s ALDFG problem.

Bureo

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Ben Kneppers is the Co-Founder and COO of Bureo Inc., a Benefits Corporation focused on creating a net positive solution to end-of-life fishing gear. Through the team’s initiative, Net Positiva, Bureo works together with fisheries and fishing communities across Chile, Argentina, and Peru to transform this once harmful marine debris into a fully-traceable, innovative raw material supply known as NetPlus. Bureo’s NetPlus material is utilized in a growing number of like-minded brands including Costa Sunglasses, Humanscale Office Chairs, Jenga Tabletop Games, and Carver Skateboards.

Bureo is a certified B-Corp and proud member of 1% for the Planet. Find out more at www.bureo.co

Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation

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Erin fell in love with the coast of Maine while studying biology at the Shoals Marine Lab on Appledore Island. After graduating with a B.Sc. in biology and environmental science, she worked in the environmental education field for many years until shifting her focus to working with the fishing industry.

Erin is the Executive Director of the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation (GOMLF), a small non-profit organization that collaborates with the local fishing industry on several different research and outreach projects. Her passion lies in bringing awareness to the marine debris issue facing our planet and how we, as individuals and citizens, can make positive changes. GOMLF works directly with local fishers, divers, scientists and volunteers to remove and discard derelict fishing gear in the Gulf of Maine waters. Erin has been directing this charge for over 15 years, removing over 5,000 traps and over 100 tons of ghost gear and continues to dedicate her time and resources to this cause.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada

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Marina started her career in the conservation of aquatic resources in 2002 through her time at the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority managing the volunteer-based Watershed Watch Program. In 2007, she joined the City of Ottawa as a fisheries field biologist where she led the research and implementation of the improved Biological Baseline Monitoring Program and became a certified trainer for the Ontario Ministry of Environments Benthic Biomonitoring Program and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Stream Assessment Protocol.

Marina joined Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard in 2012, where she coordinated the delivery of the Species At Risk Act’s enforcement operations and implemented the fishery officer marine mammal response training program.

In 2018, Marina took on a lead role for Fisheries and Oceans Canada to advance Canadian efforts on ghost gear, through the ongoing development of a national plan to address abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear. To this end, she has established collaborative relationships with international experts in academia, other government agencies and environmental non-governmental organizations in the field.

Fourth Element

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Co Founder and Managing Director of Fourth Element : Scuba Diving and Watersport Brand a British Company Registered in May 2001. Now distributed in 52 Countries, fourth element has a reputation for producing innovative high performance thermal protection and clothing for divers and water sport enthusiasts.

Fourth Element introduced the Ocean Positive range of swimwear in 2014, utilising the recycled nylon yarn econyl regenerated from lost or abandoned fishing gear or ‘Ghost nets’ and other waste nylon sources. The promotion of this range has helped increase awareness of the issue of ghost gear and the GGGI in many countries. Fourth Element has received two industry awards for our recycled swimwear range and for raising awareness of Ghost gear and marine plastics within Scuba Diving. Six awards for innovation and product design; awarded Outstanding contribution to scuba diving by the technical diving community in 2015 and voted best brand (worldwide) by Sport Diver readership in 2016.

In 2018 fourth element invited and encouraged the entire scuba diving industry to join them in pledging a commitment to reduce ocean plastic waste, by becoming part of Mission 2020. (mission2020.org)