Question Period Note: Ghost Gear Program

Ghost Gear Program

Canada continues to demonstrate leadership to address ghost fishing gear in our oceans, both within Canada and internationally.

Ghost gear is estimated to make up to 70 per cent of all macro-plastics in the world’s ocean by weight and has a direct impact on harvestable fish stocks and marine ecosystems.

We continue to invest in the Ghost Gear Fund—including a $10 million increase through Budget 2021—which helps fish harvesters acquire new gear technologies to reduce gear loss and supports the delivery of ghost gear retrieval and responsible disposal projects.

Sustainable Fisheries Solutions and Retrieval Support Contribution Program (Ghost Gear Fund)
Through Budget 2021, the Ghost Gear Fund received an additional $10M towards the expansion of several existing projects and supported new efforts to address abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear. In total, 23 new projects were supported for fiscal the year 2021-2022.

Since the initiation of the Ghost Gear Fund in July 2020, $16.7M has been distributed to support 49 ghost gear projects, and increased capacity at more than 27 harbour authorities.

All successful projects fall into at least one of four eligible categories: gear retrieval, responsible disposal, acquisition and piloting of available gear technology, and international leadership.

Ghost Gear Fund Results
To date, more than 664 tonnes of lost or discarded fishing gear has been retrieved from Canadian waters since the initiation of the Ghost Gear Fund in July 2020.

Some Ghost Gear Fund highlights include establishing an end-of-life fishing gear recycling depot in Ucluelet, British Columbia; testing smart buoy technology in multiple locations in Nova Scotia; and hosting several workshops using end-of-life fishing gear in Nigeria, creating economic opportunities for coastal communities.

New innovations in gear technology contribute to our blue economy, and are essential to the prevention and mitigation of ghost gear. The program supports fish harvesters looking to acquire market ready gear technologies to reduce gear loss.

Impacts of ghost gear
• The term 'ghost gear' refers to any fishing gear that has been abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded (for example nets, line, rope, traps, pots, and floats). Other common terms include abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear or ‘ALDFG’ and derelict fishing gear or ‘DFG’. It is a form of marine pollution that can be fatal to fish, marine mammals and other marine life, poses a navigation hazard, and may break down into other forms of pollution such as microplastics.
• The UN food and agriculture organization (FAO) estimates that ghost gear represents approximately 10% of marine debris by volume. There is growing international attention on the problem of ghost gear, as well as other forms of marine litter. For example, the FAO has recognized ghost gear as a major global problem since the 1980s. The 1995 FAO code of conduct for responsible fisheries and related technical guidelines include advice to minimize ghost gear and the responsibility to recover lost gear.
• Ghost fishing gear can cause large-scale damage to marine ecosystems through habitat disturbance and causes direct harm to the welfare and conservation of marine animals via entanglement and/or ingestion.

Canadian context
• The Canadian code of conduct for responsible fishing operations includes an expectation (guideline 2.8) for fish harvesters to ‘make every effort to retrieve lost fishing gear, reporting all lost gear’. The department collaborates with conservation groups and partners to rescue sea life that has been entangled by sea-based marine debris, and with the fishing industry to retrieve gear on an ad hoc basis. The 2-year Ghost Gear Program will allow for a dedicated program to tackle the issue of ghost gear domestically and abroad.
• The current regulatory/licencing regime is prescriptive in terms of types, quantities and identification of fishing gear that a harvester can have on board their vessel and/or fish. Additionally, the location where a harvester can fish is very prescriptive. While these measures were intended to ensure compliance with quotas and allocations, they impede the ability of a harvester to retrieve gear which they are not permitted to use and/or is located in areas they are not authorized to fish. An assessment of DFO legislation is currently underway to ensure that any potential impediments to addressing and reducing ghost gear domestically are identified and addressed.
• Canada has been pushing to strengthen measures in internationally managed fisheries. There is support for this but also recognition that for small island developing states and other developing states that the measures need to also come with increased capacity domestically – both policy, social and operational (e.g. reception centres, reporting, etc).

None