Question Period Note: Ghost Gear

• Since the establishment the Ghost Gear Program in 2019, Canada has become a global leader in addressing abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, known as ghost gear.
• We have taken action, working with partners and stakeholders to get ghost gear out of our oceans and to prevent ghost gear in the first place. This work has been supported by the delivery of $58 million in targeted funding since 2020 for 144 projects across Canada.
• We are one of the first countries to have mandatory reporting of lost fishing gear with a user friendly app and are among the first to share our data with the Global Ghost Gear Initiative data portal.
• We will continue working with harvesters and experts to reduce ghost gear in the coming years, including through the development of a Ghost Gear Action Plan by 2027, which will modernize fisheries operations and regulations.

• 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). 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 Government of Canada, working with partners and stakeholders, has made significant progress tackling lost fishing gear, known as ghost gear, in Canada and abroad through the Ghost Gear Program.
• Canada has been at the forefront of addressing this issue, signing on the Global Ghost Gear Initiative in 2018, establishing a Ghost Gear Program in 2019, mandating lost gear reporting in 2020, and sharing lost gear reporting data with the Global Ghost Gear Initiative’s Data Portal in 2022 and again in 2024.
• As part of the program, specific funding periods were created under the Ghost Gear Fund to support projects focusing on ghost gear retrieval, disposal, technological advances and international leadership.
• Since 2020, the Ghost Gear Fund contributed a total of $58.3 million to 144 projects. Funding recipients who focused on retrieval were able to recover over 36,049 units, or 2,233 tonnes, of gear, as well as 858 km worth of rope from our waters.
• We thank our partners who participated in projects during those funding periods to help keep our waters clean from fishing gear debris.
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada is working on a Canadian Ghost Gear Action Plan to prevent fishing gear loss in the future. We will continue to support our partners in their efforts to keep our waters free from fishing gear debris.

If pressed on funding for ghost gear
• Fisheries and Oceans Canada has delivered targeted funding since 2020. This funding supported Canada’s commitment to address the risk of abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear domestically and abroad.
• Ghost gear funding has targeted the retrieval of lost gear, increasing recycling and responsible disposal capacity, piloting new technology that will help prevent gear loss, and showing international leadership.
• We are now focused on the next phase of our efforts to address ghost gear, including tracking of lost gear, preventing the loss of gear in the first place and reducing plastic pollution in our oceans from fishing gear.