Environment Society of Oman protect nesting turtles in Masirah Island from ghost fishing

MUSCAT: Annually, as much as 1 million tonnes of misplaced or discarded fishing tools is deserted within the ocean.  The deserted nets proceed to fish, trapping and infrequently killing as much as 650,000 marine animals in a phenomenon referred to as “ghost fishing”. As a part of its long-term mission to cut back the entanglement of marine and coastal wildlife in deserted fishing nets, the Setting Society of Oman (ESO), supported by the British Embassy Muscat, has launched an animated video as half of a bigger initiative designed to mitigate the affect of deserted fishing nets on sea turtle populations on Masirah Island and to speed up the recycling of fishing nets in Oman. A clean-up marketing campaign undertaken earlier this yr, the place a complete of 70 tons of deserted fishing nets had been cleared from essential nesting seashores on Masirah Island. Highlighting the threats posed to marine life brought on by deserted fishing nets and different marine particles, the animation additionally sheds mild on the neighborhood’s shared accountability to maintain Oman’s oceans clear. 

The animation is a part of a wider program of outreach initiatives undertaken on Masirah Island, which has seen a 79% decline in nesting loggerhead turtle populations over the past 30 years. Since 2017, ESO has coordinated the removing of over 685 tons of deserted fishing gear from Masirah Island. As Oman’s solely non-profit group specializing in environmental conservation, ESO has launched into behavioral change campaigns focusing on fishermen and the native communities to cut back the affect of web entanglements and transfer in direction of the secure disposal of nets.

The goal of those initiatives is to advertise the secure return of native wildlife and endangered nesting turtles to the island and to Oman’s seashores.