Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) is a major contributor to ocean pollution, with extensive social, economic, and environmental impacts. However, quantitative ALDFG estimates are dated and limited in scope. To provide current global estimates, we interviewed fishers around the world about how much fishing gear they lose annually and multiplied reported losses by global fishing effort data. We estimate that nearly 2% of all fishing gear, comprising 2963 km2 of gillnets, 75,049 km2 of purse seine nets, 218 km2 of trawl nets, 739,583 km of longline mainlines, and more than 25 million pots and traps are lost to the ocean annually. These estimates represent critical baselines that can inform solutions targeted to ALDFG reduction strategies

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	abandoned lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear, fisheries, plastic, pollution
Research Division:	Agricultural, Veterinary and Food Sciences
Research Group:	Fisheries sciences
Research Field:	Fisheries management
Objective Division:	Environmental Policy, Climate Change and Natural Hazards
Objective Group:	Environmental policy, legislation and standards
Objective Field:	Environmental policy, legislation and standards not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Richardson, K (Miss Kelsey Richardson)
UTAS Author:	Hardesty, BD (Dr Britta Hardesty)
UTAS Author:	Vince, J (Associate Professor Joanna Vince)
UTAS Author:	Wilcox, C (Dr Chris Wilcox)
ID Code:	153895
Year Published:	2022
Web of Science® Times Cited:	1
Deposited By:	Office of the School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2022-10-13
Last Modified:	2022-11-18
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