Ghost fishing- a maritime tragedy.

I was first made aware of the problem of ghost fishing decades ago as a (much) younger undergraduate. In those days I was nowhere near as cynical as I tend to be now and naively thought that with more public awareness and education amongst the worlds' fishing fleets, the frequency of such dreadful waste could be reduced or even eliminated. Having seen so much discarded netting and long-line over the last couple of decades I am no longer sure. Encounters of dead and injured cetaceans, seabirds, sharks and turtles on the high seas appear to be just as prevalent as they ever were. I guess all we can do is to keep highlighting the problem and hope that with time the message will eventually get through to those that indiscriminately dump old fishing gear.

gannets- one dead and one dying 

On a more positive note, below are a couple of shots to highlight the truly majestic nature of these wonderful seabirds and to show them as they should be seen.