The net had already claimed a couple of creatures’ lives before it was picked up…
When you see the sheer amount of rubbish that people are willing to litter Malta’s environment with, you’ll be thankful that nature clean-ups have become such a common occurrence in recent years…
Zibel, a Maltese ENGO with a mission to reduce the overall waste generated on our islands, undertook a major underwater clean-up earlier this month – and what they found will blow your mind.
“Last week, a huge ghost net measuring 242 metres was collected from near Cirkewwa. This net is the largest ghost net we have found in Malta, as big as 27 buses,” the ENGO wrote on social media.
Yes, you read that right. As big as 27 buses.
Pulling the net out of the water was no easy feat – in fact it took a couple of hours, three separate dives, and 10 volunteers to bring it up to dry land.
And whilst this has certainly helped to make the Cirkewwa waters a bit safer for marine life, the ghost net had already claimed a few lives.
“Unfortunately, this net killed at least 40 fish since it was found, leaving a trail of skeletons in their place,” Zibel wrote.
“The net had no identification tag, was in a marine protected area, and had no markers – most probably why the net was lost,” it continued.
This commendable mission was supported by Saving Our Blue Malta, Ambjent, the Ministry for the Environment, Climate Change, and Planning, and the Environment and Resources Authority.