Joanna Toole Annual Ghost Gear Solutions Award 2020
Applications Now Open!
The Joanna Toole Annual Ghost Gear Solutions Award is an award given to the most deserving project that submitted compelling strategies to tackle abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), also known as ghost gear.
Ghost gear is one of the biggest threats to marine life. An estimated 640,000 tons of ghost gear is left in our oceans each year – more than one ton every minute. Ghost gear is, by far, the deadliest form of marine debris as it is four times more likely to impact on marine life through entanglement than all other forms of marine debris combined. Every year, more than 100,000 whales, dolphins, seals and turtles get caught in abandoned or lost fishing nets, lines and traps. Moreover, there is an increasing consensus that ghost gear is directly responsible for a 10 percent decline in fish stock levels globally. Made mostly of durable modern plastics, ghost gear can take up to 600 years to break down in the marine environment.
In 2014, World Animal Protection’s Sea Change team, co-led by Joanna Toole, established the Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI), a multi-stakeholder, public-private partnership committed to driving solutions to the problem of lost and abandoned fishing gear worldwide. The GGGI aims to improve the health and productivity of marine ecosystems, protect marine life, and safeguard human health and livelihoods. The GGGI currently brings together over 100 partners across the fishing industry, the private sector, academia, governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations. The GGGI’s membership is organised into three integrated working groups to directly tackle global ghost gear through: i. building evidence; ii. defining best practice and informing policy; iii. catalysing and replicating solutions.
The Award
The Joanna Toole Annual Ghost Gear Solutions Award is made possible by support from World Animal Protection, the Global Ghost Gear Initiative and Ocean Conservancy.
The Total Award is $40,000 USD.
How to Apply
We welcome applications for projects aimed at addressing the threats of ghost gear in our oceans. The winning project will be able to demonstrate that it can either cause a measurable reduction in the suffering of marine animals due to ghost gear within the funded period (a maximum of 12 months) or develop an approach, mechanism or technology that can reasonably be expected to do this when applied in the field.
Projects must be sustainable and underpinned by a commitment from the proposing organisation to continue to address ghost gear beyond the project duration. Projects that are scalable and replicable will be favoured.
To Apply: Please fill out the Application Form and return to info@ghostgear.org and info@joannatoolefoundation.org by September 11th 2020.
All applicants will be considered by a specialist panel of judges and the winning recipient of the award will be informed no later than December 2020 with commencement of the project in 2021.
When answering the questions in the application form, please consider that you must be able to demonstrate the following criteria:
Prevention, mitigation or a cure of the negative impacts of ghost gear on marine animals and on the marine environment either by implementation of provisions described in the GGGI guidance document The Best Practise Framework (BPF) for the Management of Fishing Gear or by proposing a new and innovative approach.
Measurable benefits to the species, communities and/or geographical areas involved in the project.
The long-term sustainability of the project through replication, scaling and/or partnerships, policy implementation or continued development.
'Following the death of my daughter Jo, friends & family decided to set up a charitable foundation to continue her work. We were very pleased when World Animal Protection and GGGI announced the annual Joanna Toole Ghost Gear Solutions Award to be funded for three years by World Animal Protection. I was pleased to be on the panel of judges for the first round and we were able to announce two winners at the end of January this year.
Although the Covid lockdowns have restricted the ability of the winners to run their projects, I'm very pleased that the cash award is enabling them to implement measures to reduce ghost gear in their localities. Joanna's last project was tackling marine debris on behalf of the United Nations and this yearly award will form an important component of the many initiatives that we plan to keep her legacy and mission alive. As we launch of the second round of the award, The Joanna Toole Foundation urges anyone with ideas for ridding the oceans of this deadly scourge to come forward with a project.
Jo is our guide and inspiration in this work and the Trustees thank both World Animal Protection and the GGGI for their involvement.'
Adrian Toole, Joanna’s father, judge and trustee of the Joanna Toole Foundation