The famous video of a man pulling out a plastic straw from a turtle's nostril informed the public of the destructiveness of our single-use plastic products, and people started protesting against plastic straws. However, according to National Geographic research, out of 8 million tons of plastic that flow into the ocean each year, plastic straws only take up about 0.025 percent.

In comparison, ghost gear, which most people are unaware of, takes up 10% of plastic waste in our oceans.

Ghost gear is fishing gear that gets lost or dumped in the ocean for several reasons—such as severe weather and conflict with other gears or rocks that cause damage and degradation.

Learn more about "ghost gear" at... GGGI (Global Ghost Gear Initiative) & Greenpeace

According to Greenpeace, in Cape Town, South Africa, an estimated 640,000 tonnes of abandoned or lost fishing equipment enter the ocean each year, making up around 10% of the plastic waste in our oceans, entangling and killing marine life.

The “Ghost Gear” report shows that 6% of all nets used, 9% of all traps, and 29% of all longlines (fishing lines that are several kilometers long) remain as pollution at sea.

There is a need to call for action against the harmful effects of ghost gear—such as agreements limiting industrial fishing or overfishing activities and policies to regulate and penalize fishermen who discard their gears.