The Fisheries Management Branch of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has been alerted that some concerned citizens have been engaging in the cutting of floating buoys from fishing gear in the False Bay area.
While it is recognised that this action is usually well-meant, with the intention of removing fishing gear in which whales and other marine animals may become entangled, it should also be realised that this action may do even more harm than good.
The floating buoys are markers which mark the ends of lines of fishing gear lying along the sea floor. Removing the floating buoys may result in slower times to find and retrieve the fishing gear by the fishers, thus increasing the opportunity for entanglement of whales and other marine animals.
However, of even greater concern is when removal of the floating buoys results in the fishers not being able to find and retrieve these lines of fishing gear at all. Lines of fishing gear that cannot be found and retrieved continue to engage in what is known as ‘ghost fishing’ - they continue to entrap marine creatures, and lie around on the seabed where they are an ongoing entanglement risk to whales, other marine mammals, sharks, penguins and other seabirds.
The recent death of a Bryde’s Whale in False Bay was the result of ‘ghost fishing’ when the whale became entangled in old fishing gear that had been lost from a fishing vessel which sank some years ago.
The Department appeals to concerned citizens not to interfere with any fishing gear, as doing so may result in unintended negative consequences to the whales and other marine animals that we are all working hard to protect.
