Fishing is an important part of Jamaican life and culture. The fishermen (they are mostly men) go out to sea, and their catch is fried near the beach or sold to households and retailers. Fishing provides income for the community and food for residents and businesses.
Unfortunately, many of the fishermen discard their old and damaged fishing nets in the sea. Abandoned fishing nets, called ghost gear, then drift in the currents, trapping and killing fish and other forms of marine life. .The Ghost Gear Initiative is designed to educate the fishing communities on the harm caused to the environment and to their own livelihoods by ghost gear. It aims to provide collection points for the discarded nets, so that they can be removed from the environment. The ghost gear will be weighed and measured in order to provide a better estimate of the size of the problem. This data will then be used to inform decision-making at both local and national levels.