Ghost nets, being one of the greatest dangers to sea creatures, is aimed to be solved by tagging fishing gear. Tags with QR codes will allow officials to trace the nets easily.
The tag application is being brought into action by the Ministry of Agriculture and the Forestry General Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture for commercial hunting. Fishermen have to put tags with QR codes on their fishing nets until Sept. 1. With this new application, it is aimed to stop poaching and the accidental deaths of marine creatures.
"With the help of QR codes, the owner of the nets can be detected. It will be an important step to prevent ghost nets," Altuğ Atalay, head of the Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture told Demirören News Agency (DHA) on Tuesday.
It will be mandatory to tag the nets and owners of untagged nets will be fined on charges of illegal fishing.
"If you conduct commercial fishing, then all of your fishing tackle must be tagged. With the help of QR codes on these tags, it can be seen who is the owner of the net, what its properties are, and in which boat it is used. If an abandoned net is detected, it will be treated as fishing material of an illegal fisher and the nets will be confiscated," he added. If the nets do not fall within standards, they will not be tagged and will be seized.
"The hunting equipment that can be used by a fisherman is limited. When the tags are attached, mesh size is taken into consideration. If it is in the scope of the legal framework, then the tags can be attached. Officials such as the coast guard, maritime police and gendarme can scan these barcodes. Also, it will prevent illegal fishing. If the equipment is not tagged, criminal action will be taken and the fisherman's boat will be seized," he said.
"Ghost net pollution" is a serious problem for the sea and its habitants. According to a United Nations report, nearly 640,000 tons of ghost nets and other fishing materials are thrown away into seas across the world.
Though the exact figures are not available, it is estimated that 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) of nets are lost or left by fishing boats every year. Nets made of plastic derivatives also contribute to plastic pollution at sea. In 2020 alone, authorities removed ghost nets from 10 locations across an area of 10,000 square meters. In 2019, the government mandated that all commercial fishing boat operators must inform the authorities of the type, quantity and coordinates of the nets lost at sea. Experts warn that they are a primary threat for the ecosystem as they render the spots they are dumped at or stuck uninhabitable for fish and other marine creatures.