When fishing nets get lost at sea, they become a problem of a scale difficult to fathom. Today in Part Two of our special report on ocean pollution, we turn to one of the worst killers of marine life. Lost or discarded nets, lures, and other fishing gear make up about half the plastic pollution that ends up in Taiwan’s waters. These products can stay intact for decades and wreak damage to coral, fish, and the humans that eat them. Join us as we survey the grim situation that’s unfolding below the ocean surface. On a weekend in August, New Taipei’s Department of Environmental Protection sent a team to clean the seabed near the Dongao harbor. Tseng Shih-haoNew Taipei environmental protection officialThose of us here today are mainly friends and volunteers from the fisheries and fishing port office. Ordinarily their jobs involve working along the sea floor. So when it comes to things like where the garbage is and which areas require cleanup, they’re more knowledgeable than we are.Coast Guard officials also showed up to lend a hand. In the morning, the team cleared ocean garbage by the harbor. In the afternoon, they expanded outward. Items such as discarded fishing gear, beverage containers, plastic and wood made up the bulk of the garbage they collected.Many of the volunteers had joined after firsthand experience of how bad it gets on the ocean floor.VolunteerThe sea floor is so dirty. When I went diving down there, there was so much garbage. I thought it was so strange.They had learned to dive so that they would enjoy the beauty of the ocean. But now, cleaning up that ocean has become their top priority.A diving instructor of 30 years, Wang Kuo-chang started collecting abandoned fishing nets from the sea floor 15 years ago. One of his worst memories is that of an animal choking to death in front of him.Wang Kuo-changMarine conservationistWe local fishers always tell people that if they catch something that feels different, they should call us to come take a look. Once when we went down to look, we discovered a green sea turtle. We pulled it up to save it, and we saw that it was a critically endangered hawksbill sea turtle. It was on its last breath. When we got it up onto the shore, it died. We were just 10 minutes too late. There’s no shortage of stories about sea turtles suffering from fishing nets. In 2018, nets led to the death of 300 olive ridley sea turtles off the coast of Mexico. For marine life, fishing nets are a bringer of calamity.Wang Kuo-changMarine conservationistLet’s say that today a fisherman has a brand-new net. It gets stuck on coral and the fisherman can’t pull it up. Fish will get entangled in it. Once that happens, those fish will be dead within two days. After they die, they will give off a smell that attracts crabs, which will also get stuck. Crabs have an even harder time freeing themselves from nets. After the crabs die, lobsters will move in, and so on and so on.Discarded fishing nets are a serial killer of marine life. And there’s more to the story.Wang Kuo-changMarine conservationistAfter a while, moss, algae and mud will cover the net and hold it in place. Then barnacles will grow on it, and it will become part of the seabed. The coral underneath it will be covered over. Once that happens, the coral will die. After it dies, there won’t be any more fish around here.Everyday plastic garbage can be mistaken for food by fish who die after consumption. Discarded fishing nets are even worse. They destroy the coral that fish need for foraging and laying eggs.Within 10 minutes of hitting the water, the volunteers start sending up bags of collected waste. At the end of the session, every volunteer returns with multiple bags in tow.Wang Kuo-chang has quite a haul. His garbage collection includes a bag filled entirely with nets, hooks and other discarded fishing gear. Voice of Wang Kuo-changMarine conservationistMainly it’s things like drift nets. Drift nets get all tangled up when the seas are stormy. What’s even more of a headache is the shrimp lures that fishers use. This one is plastic. Plastic won’t rot, not even in a hundred years. This one is a big headache -- it’s lead, a heavy metal. Another hazard to marine life is Styrofoam. It’s used to keep strings and baskets of oysters afloat, but it breaks easily and flows out to pollute the coastline and the sea.Liu Chia-weiGreenpeaceStyrofoam can break apart into smaller plastic pieces. When these microplastics wash out to sea, they attract organic pollutants. After they combine with these pollutants, they are mistaken for food. This is a health hazard to the marine animals that eat it.These microplastics are eaten by sea creatures that ultimately end up on the dinner table. When humans eat their trash, their bodies pay the price. Eating plastic harms the reproductive system and increases the risk of cancer.

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