GhostNets Australia plans to work with Indonesian fisherman to stop fishing nets from reaching our shores.
Discarded nets float on ocean currents, trapping and killing marine animals, and damaging coral reefs.
For over a decade GhostNets Australia has collected data about abandoned fishing nets and supported Indigenous rangers to collect them from beaches between Cape York and the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Founder of the organisation, Riki Gunn, said the group is now investigating ways to stop the nets before they do any more damage.
“Just to continually clean up nets is almost futile,” she said.
“There’s a lot of good will involved in that but what we really need to do is clean up from the source.”
Ms Gunn said the majority of the nets are lost or dumped by fishermen hunting for prawns and other fish species off the coast of Indonesia.
She said a crackdown on illegal fishing and trawl fisheries by the Indonesian government was likely to help cut down on pollution.
However, she said more work needs to be done with individual fishermen.
“One of the problems we found is the fisherman aren’t necessarily making a reasonable profit, they’re not doing well,” she said.
“We can help them improve their profit margin and instil in them a better understanding of the importance of looking after their gear and equipment.
“It might be something as simple as a better reporting system when they lose a net so they can go back and pick it up.”
GhostNets Australia has already run six workshops with fishermen in ghost net hot-spots.
Ms Gunn said seed funding from the Federal Government will be used to develop a pilot program to educate fishermen.
“I don’t think working on the outside and imposing regulations is as effective as working directly with fishermen on collaborative solutions.”
2015 ABC