Dear Subscriber First Name,

We hope this message finds you well! There’s been a lot happening in recent months and here you’ll find a variety of updates from the GGGI and its members on projects, meetings and events from around the world where amazing work is being done to address the impacts of ALDFG.

Below you will find highlights from our first in-person annual meeting since 2019, which was held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in mid-May; progress at INC-4 in Ottawa, Canada, where GGGI held a well-attended side event addressing the need to include ALDFG-specific measures in the International Legally Binding Agreement on Plastic Pollution (ILBI or the “plastics treaty”); our 2023 GGGI Annual Report, so you can read in detail about the work done by the GGGI and its member organizations in 2023; and much more.

As ever, the GGGI community draws strength from the success of its members: if you have news you’d like shared in a future edition of the newsletter, please send it to our GGGI Coordinator, Laura Walker at lwalker@oceanconservancy.org. If you know someone who might like to hear future news from us, ask them to subscribe!

Sincerely,

The GGGI Team

GGGI held our first in-person Annual Meeting since 2019 May 14th - 16th, 2024 in Waikiki, Oahu, Hawaii. The meeting was held at the Outrigger Reef Waikiki and brought together members from around the world to grow their network and discuss the challenges and successes that they have had in their areas of expertise while undertaking activities to address ALDFG. The first two days of the meeting included networking sessions, lightning talks from members, panel discussions from ALDFG experts from all over the world, and round robin discussion sessions on a variety of ALDFG-related topics.

The last day of the meeting was spent at Hawaii Pacific University’s Center For Marine Debris Research (CMDR) collection and recycling warehouse, where attendees were treated to an in-depth tour of the processes used to sort, clean, recycle, and repurpose ALDFG recovered in the Hawaiian archipelago.

Our sincere thanks to everyone who was able to attend and share their expertise in this global forum, and also to the team at CMDR for their incredible hospitality and for facilitating such an amazing field trip!

GGGI’s Policy Specialist, Hannah Pragnell-Raasch, joined Ocean Conservancy’s delegation at the 4th Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4) for the International Legally Binding Instrument on Plastic Pollution (ILBI, also known colloquially as the “plastics treaty”) which took place in Ottawa, Canada, April 23rd - 29th, 2024. Hannah participated in a number of side events taking place in the margins of the negotiations to continue to elevate the issue of ALDFG and the need for including specific provisions to address ALDFG in the ILBI as well as highlighting the importance of partnerships, cooperation and coordination for measures to be effective.

GGGI and Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans co-hosted a side event in collaboration with the Partnership for Atlantic Cooperation on ALDFG best practices, partnerships and the need for strong ALDFG measures in ILBI. The side event was well attended, with over 80 delegates participating.

The 2023 GGGI Annual Report is now finished and live! We’re so proud of the work we completed in 2023, and so grateful for all of the support we’ve received from our members, funders and supporters around the world. This report includes the key achievements of the GGGI in 2023, the newest ALDFG research, GGGI Signature and Small Grant project highlights, member achievements and much more. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together!

The GGGI Expert Advisory Council exists to provide technical, commercial and governance judgment to the GGGI Leadership. The Expert Advisory Council is not a decision-making body and is not concerned with the management of GGGI processes. Rather, it provides expert information and opinion to assist the GGGI Leadership and the outputs of the GGGI. The GGGI EAC is made up of a diverse group of individuals whose experience and perspectives help guide GGGI’s efforts across the globe.

We are currently soliciting applications for additional members of the EAC. For additional details on working with the EAC or the application process, please reach out to GGGI Membership Specialist Caitie Frenkel (caitie@ghostgear.org).

Bringing together high-level delegates from around the world, the pre-UNOC high-level event on ocean action: Immersed In Change took place on June 7th and 8th, 2024 in Costa Rica. GGGI Policy Specialist Hannah Pragnell-Raasch attended the event which was aimed at highlighting topics of global significance on the ocean agenda and driving specific actions to address the various crises facing the ocean today.

Hannah joined esteemed guests during a plenary panel titled “Fight Against Ghost Fishing Gear” moderated by Costa Rica’s Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Heiner Méndez-Barrientos. Hannah delivered remarks in a presentation titled “From Local Action to Global Policy - Implementing Best Practices to Prevent, Mitigate, and Remediate the Occurrence and Impacts of ALDFG”. Fellow panelists included Kelsey Richardson - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); Carmen Castro - Costa Rica National Coast Guard; Anjali Acharya - World Bank; and Guillermo Molina - Latin American Alliance for Sustainable Fisheries (ALPESCAS), who each delivered remarks from their respective areas of expertise followed by an open Q & A session with the audience.

Additionally, Hannah spoke on a side event co-hosted by World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) titled “A Global Plastics Treaty and Ocean Biodiversity: Multistakeholder Initiatives to Tackle Plastic Pollution” with opening remarks delivered by Ambassador Peter Thomson, United Nations Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Ocean. Hannah shared perspectives on the importance of including ALDFG in the plastics-biodiversity discussion and the need for multistakeholder collaboration.

National Coast Guard, IPS Recycling and ACEPESA join forces to combat ALDFG in Costa Rica

In the margins of the Immersed in Change event, GGGI’s Hannah was delighted to join delegates from Germany, Madagascar, FAO and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ) for a site visit hosted by the Government of Costa Rica to the National Coast Guard in Puerto Caldera as well as IPS Recycle’s facility in San Ramon. As Lead Partner Country under the GloLitter Partnerships Project, and with funding from the Government of Canada's Ghost Gear Fund, Costa Rica has been committed to finding solutions for managing ALDFG while supporting the nation's fishers. The public-private partnerships with the National Coast Guard, IPS Recycle, and local NGO project partner ACEPESA, have involved engaging fishers that have so far removed twenty thousand tons of ALDFG from the environment. This partnership has also enabled Costa Rica to provide capacity-building sessions and educational materials to fishers on how to avoid, repair, and report ALDFG. Additionally, fishing gear has been transformed via IPS Recycle into long-life products such as benches, picnic tables, kiosks, stands, and lifeguard towers, contributing to a circular economy and sustainable solution to marine plastic pollution.

GGGI Corporate Partnership Manager Sara Pfeifer attended a Fish Aggregating Device Retrieval (FAD) workshop in the Galapagos Islands on May 8th - 10th, 2024. The two-day event was hosted by the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF) and GGGI members TUNACONS and World Wildlife Fund (WWF). It brought together FAD experts from across all relevant sectors, including academia, local and national fisheries managers, fishing industry, technology companies and NGOs.

Participants met in the backdrop of the Galapagos marine reserve, which is facing a crisis of marine debris including FADs and other ALDFG, with the goal of exploring solutions for FAD recovery. TUNACONS, with support of the GGGI Small Grants Program, has helped to address this issue by developing a FAD recovery project for the Galapagos Islands. In addition to TUNACONS and WWF, numerous other GGGI members participated in the event, including representatives from SatLink, Trimarine, and Seafoodmatter.

GGGI Policy Specialist Hannah Pragnell-Raasch joined esteemed panelists on a webinar hosted by the Global Partnership on Plastic Pollution and Marine Litter (GPML) to discuss sea-based sources of plastic pollution and marine litter. Hannah provided an overview of the current governance and policy approaches for ALDFG and highlighted the opportunities for the ILBI to strengthen existing governance. Additionally, Maartje Folbert from the Open Universiteit of The Netherlands officially launched the new e-learning course on sea-based sources of plastic pollution and marine litter which the GGGI leadership team contributed to the development of.

This webinar was moderated by Fredrik Haag, Co-Chair of the GPML, moderated the webinar and which also featured the following speakers and topics:

• Kisten Gilardi, from the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), provided a general introduction to sea-based sources of plastic pollution and marine litter.

• Hannah Pragnell-Raasch, from the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), presented governance and policy approaches for abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG).

• Gudrun Janssens, from the Baltic and International Maritime Council (BIMCO), shared experiences from the shipping industry to address plastic pollution.

• Maartje Folbert from the Open Universiteit of The Netherlands, gave a brief introduction to a new e-learning course on sea-based sources of plastic pollution and marine litter.

Podcast – Reclaiming Waters: An Interview with Veronika Mikos on Ghost Farms, from GGGI Member Healthy Seas

The latest episode of the Healthy Seas podcast, dives into the murky waters of ghost aquaculture farms with Veronika Mikos, the director of Healthy Seas. Veronika guides us through the intricacies of what ghost farms are, where they are typically found, and their impact on communities, marine life and ocean pollution.

Ghost farms refer to abandoned aquaculture or fish farming sites, often left to deteriorate in coastal waters. These sites become environmental hazards, polluting the ocean with debris, and affecting marine ecosystems. The presence of decaying structures, abandoned nets, and other industrial waste can harm wildlife and disrupt local communities’ livelihoods.

Listen to the Podcast here

Nearly 700 Metric Tons of ALDFG Removed from Canadian Waters

Canada announced the clean up of nearly 700 metric tons of ghost gear in Atlantic Canada that was left in the wake of Hurricane Fiona in 2022, the most devastating tropical storm to ever hit Canada. The clean up was partially funded by a $30M CAD fund created by the Canadian government to address the damage done by Fiona. The Canadian government announced the results of the cleanup as global leaders gathered in Ottawa, Canada for INC-4.

Click here to learn more

Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation Removes 8-Ton Gear Ball in Maine

GGGI member Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation pulled out approximately eight tons of gear near Portland Head Light, Maine on May 29th and 30th, 2024. Multiple large gear balls were found and removed by local lobster fishers who are dedicated to cleaning up their local fishing grounds. Diver and lobster fisher Jim Buxton, who attended the GGGI Annual Meeting in Oahu, was instrumental in rigging the gear balls for removal.

ALDFG in the Media

• Whale death revives debate over ropeless lobster gear - E&E News by POLITICO (eenews.net)

• Groups that clean up lost and abandoned fishing gear concerned about funding | CBC News

• Thai divers seek to take on 'ghost gear' threatening marine life | Reuters

Welcome To Our New GGGI Members!

GGGI continues to grow stronger. A warm welcome to new members Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources.