The Great Pacific garbage patch

Methods

Summary

Impact of “Ghost Fishing“ via Derelict Fishing Gear

We will begin our study by examining the amount of equipment, mainly focusing on netting, is lost on 10 different deep sea fishing ships over a month. After a month when then 10 ships return to port we will then provide each boat with 2 biodegradable nets along with an informational class on how to reduce loss of netting and the impact of pollution to ocean life. We will then see whether or not having eco friendly equipment and knowledge of how to reduce their waste output actually helps to reduce the amount of equipment lost. We will compare the first voyage of each ship to the second to see if their is any significant reduction in equipment loss. 

If our study proves that the use of eco friendly equipment along with educational ways to prevent pollution reduces waste from fishing ships then we could work on further preventative measures which would play a part in decreasing the great pacific garbage patch. A study done by the NOAA Marine Debris Program examined preventative measures such as: 

1-Improvement of gear design to reduce likelihood of failure or snagging.
2-Spatial zoning of fisheries to avoid gear conflict and increase navigational awareness of gear in water.
3-Reduced fishing effort (lower soak times, limiting fishing time, less gear per boat).
4-Reducing ghost fishing efficiency of gear (improve biodegradable aspects for release or disabling of lost gear over time).
5-Gear marking, integrated GPS to allow for immediate recovery, port or state monitoring, and inspection of gear.
6-Provide affordable port disposal facilities and incentives to discourage improper disposal at sea

There are many studies already done to increase outreach and education programs to decrease ghost fishing. NOAA and the Ocean Conservancy collaborated to create the Keep the Coast Clear Campaign, which is used as a way to target public awareness and education campaign to help understand the impact or ghost fishing along with marine debris. Ghostfishing.org is a non-profit organization of divers that “collects, motivates, and initiates ghost fishing projects around the world” to increase awareness in the global diving community, and provides links to worldwide collaborations for the removal and recycling of fishing gear. Raising awareness could help the fishing industry become part of the management solution and promote sustainability in the future.

South Korea started working a decade ago to reduce marine debris. Their derelict gear buyback program, which pays fishermen between $4 and $20 for turning in a certain amount of a certain type of gear, collected nearly 30,000 tons of ghost gear in four years. 

www.britannica.comTalking Ocean Trash: Ghost Gear Keeps on Fishing

Challenges

The major problem we would run into is data analysis. We will examine ships for two months to see if their waste output decreases but the problem we run into is that a decrease in output could be a coincidence or because the ships are provided with biodegradable nets they may think that it is okay for them to be lost in the ocean instead of working harder to avoid polluting the ocean. To fix this problem we are examining 10 ships to rule out coincidence and we are only paying for part of the total cost of new nets so that money will play a part in working harder to avoid pollutants. 

Pre Analysis Plan

We will be using a Paired T-test to examine output levels of a ship on 2 separate occasions. We will examine whether or not each ship had a decrease in output levels comparing the first month to the second month. We will then compare the data from all 10 ships to confirm or deny a decrease in waste output. If there is a clear reduction in the amount of waste into the ocean on the second verse first trial then our hypothesis is correct that the use of awareness, education and biodegrade equipment will cause fisherman to be more aware of the effects pollution has on our oceans and will work harder on preventative measures. Our null hypothesis would show no significant reduction in trial 1 verse trial 2. There are of course many factors that could influence the amount of output on a ship which is why we are conducting the study on 10 ships and using cameras as a way to monitor accident verse carelessness. 

Biodegradable nets are made with a polymer that will begin breaking down after 4 years. They are equip with a tracker that is linked to an app to locate the nets so that it can be repaired verse abandoned. This High-Tech, Biodegradable Fishing Net Could Help Save Dolphins and Whales

In order to determine the cost of an average biodegradable fishing net, $700, we called a local fishing port as we were unable to determine the cost online. 

The average cost of a set of outdoor, night vision, ship worthy, cameras is $100 for a set of 2 cameras. www.hyndsightvision.com