Baltic Sea Campaign 2021 | Recovery of Ghost nets in the Baltic Sea | SEA SHEPHERD

Baltic Sea Campaign 2021 – Dive into the Baltic Sea with Sea Shepherd Germany and see how we trying to protect one of the most threatened marine ecosystems on earth.

Biodiversity is dwindling, and overfishing and pollution are taking their toll on the ecosystem. Eutrophication, the accumulation of nutrients in waters that are actually low in nutrients, causes murky water, toxic algal blooms, oxygen deficiency, and loss of biodiversity.

There are a variety of causes. However, fishing plays a specific role with the use of gillnets in particular. Especially in the Baltic Sea, gillnet fishing is one of the most common methods for catching cod, herring, and flatfish. The fine nets can hardly be seen underwater by seabirds, juvenile fish, and marine mammals such as harbor porpoises, which get entangled and eventually drown. Dead harbor porpoises bearing evidence of injuries caused by fishing are regularly found washed up on the local beaches. As part of the BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN,

With the BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN, we are also helping to reduce marine pollution. Millions of old fishing nets drift through the oceans worldwide; up to 10,000 pieces of net are lost every year in the Baltic Sea alone. It takes centuries for the material to finally break down into microplastics. Until then, the nets are deadly for countless marine animals. A major goal of the BALTIC SEA CAMPAIGN was therefore the recovery of ghost nets.

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Sea Shepherd is an international, non-profit marine conservation organization that engages in direct action campaigns to defend wildlife, and conserve and protect the world’s oceans from illegal exploitation and environmental destruction.

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