Succorfish supports 'ghost gear' recovery

A North East technology company is supporting efforts to reduce marine pollution through a equipment donation to a coastal conservation charity.

Succorfish has donated £10,000 worth of its MyGearTag technology to Clean Planet UK, a Middlesbrough-based charity that recovers and recycles lost fishing equipment from the North East coastline.

The charity’s volunteer divers work along a 25-mile stretch of coast between Seaham and Skinningrove, removing so-called “ghost gear” – lost nets, pots and traps that can damage marine habitats and wildlife.

Developed by Succorfish in partnership with Newcastle University and the NETTAG+ project, with support from UK Research & Innovation and the European Union, MyGearTag (pictured below) is an underwater acoustic location device that helps users track and recover fishing equipment.

The units will allow Clean Planet UK to mark and relocate ghost gear that cannot be recovered immediately, helping prevent it from being lost again due to ocean currents.

Data gathered through the technology will also show how discarded fishing equipment moves across the seabed, helping the charity identify hotspots and target future recovery efforts.

Chad Hooper, founder and chief executive at Succorfish, said: “Fishing equipment can be lost for many reasons, such as bad weather causing lines to break or being accidentally dragged away from where they were left by other boats’ gear, and unless its owners know where it’s gone, it can be almost impossible to find.

“MyGearTag allows for lost fishing nets, pots and traps to be quickly located over a wide area, thus avoiding the substantial cost of replacing them, reducing the amount of plastic in our oceans and preventing more damage being caused to marine life and environments.

“MyGearTag is unique it in terms of its size, cost, low power use and effectiveness, while the low-level noise that it emits has been specifically designed to minimise any impact on the underwater environment. 

“The Clean Planet team has been doing some amazing work under their own steam for several years and the MyGearTag equipment we’ve provided will enable them to make even more of a difference to the marine environment off this part of the North East coast.”

Founded by diver Stephen Smith after discovering ghost gear off the Redcar coast, Clean Planet UK is the only organisation of its kind operating in North East waters. 

The charity has grown to a 15-strong volunteer team and uses its own vessel to locate and remove debris from the seabed.

Stephen added: “The extent of ghost gear on our seabed was very obvious when I first began diving in the area and our efforts to clean as much of it up as we can being benefits for everyone involved.

“Not only does it make for a cleaner diving environment, but there’s damage being caused to sea life and underwater habitats and, if we can reunite the lost kit with its owners, there’s less of a financial cost to the fishing industry too.

“We prioritise recovering equipment that’s been recently lost, as there’s more chance of it being reusable when we pull it out of the water, and we’re increasingly being asked by local fishermen if we can find nets and lines that they’ve lost in a particular location.

“The weight of this equipment, the sea conditions or simply the time of day that we find it can all mean that we can’t remove everything in one go, and if it’s not in the same place when you go back for the rest, it really could be anywhere.

“Having the MyGearTag location devices that we can fit to what we leave behind will make it easier to find it all again on our next trip and will make a massive difference to the amount of ghost gear we’re able to remove.”

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