Ghostbusters UK

“Naku, grabe! Ang baho niyan!” Ito ay isang mahangin, umuusok na kulay-abo na bukang-liwayway sa daungan ng Portland, at sinusubukan ng isang pangkat ng mga Ghost Fishing UK divers na huwag mag-retch habang sila ay humila sa isang 100m-haba na hasang-net.

Buhol-buhol sa gulo ng walang pag-asang nakulong na mga alimango at isda ang nabubulok na bangkay ng isang diving bird.

Hinila ng mga diver ang natitirang lambat at nagsimulang salain ito, pinutol ang anumang bagay na nabubuhay pa.

"Sana makamit iyon," sabi ng isa sa mga maninisid, na naglabas ng pagod na alimango pabalik sa gilid.

This is the gruesome reality of a massive environmental problema – a phenomenon that is having a devastating impact on marine life and its habitats.

Kapag nawala sa karagatan ang mga kagamitan sa pangingisda tulad ng malalaking trawl at gill-nets at mga string ng ulang at crab-pots, patuloy silang nanghuhuli ng isda. Ito ay tinatawag na ghost-fishing.

The UN’s conservative estimate is that 640,000 tonnes of fishing-gear is lost in the oceans every year. Almost half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is made up of ghost-gear.

It isn’t only the unintended catch that succumbs to a needless death. The dead and dying animals act as bait for larger ones. Unwitting cetaceans and diving birds head into the nets for an easy meal and become tangled, drowning in nets that are often heavily disguised by biological growth.

Si Dr James Barnett ay nagsasagawa ng mga post-mortem sa mga na-stranded na marine mammal kasama ang British Divers Marine Life Rescue, at nakipagtulungan sa Sea Life Trust sa Cornish Seal Sanctuary.

"Mayroon kaming isa noong nakaraang taon sa isang 35kg na selyo na may 35kg ng net dito - ito ay kakila-kilabot," sabi niya. “Nakakaapekto ito sa kanilang paglangoy; nakakaapekto ito sa kakayahang magpakain.”

Ngunit ito ay hindi lamang mga lambat. Ang mga nawawalang string ng mga creel-pot ay hindi lamang nagpapatuloy sa paghuli at pag-baiting sa isang mabisyo na bilog, ngunit ang mga lubid ay maaari ring magdulot ng mga isyu. Mayroong ilang mga ulat noong nakaraang taon lamang sa Scottish Isles ng mga balyena na natagpuang nahuli sa kanila, at isang ulat ng isang seryosong insidente na kinasasangkutan ng isang maninisid na nasangkot.

In 2014, professional diving tagapagturo Richard Walker met a group of Dutch divers who were part of an organisation called the Ghost Fishing Foundation, set up in 2009 by Pascal Van Erp.

Sumama sa kanila si Richard, na nabawi ang isang malaking trawl-net mula sa pagkawasak ng Argo. Humanga sa kanilang pagtutulungan at dedikasyon, nagpasya siyang dalhin ang proyekto sa UK.

“Every dive I’ve done in the sea around the UK, I’ve seen some sort of lost fishing-gear,” Richard explains. “I wanted to see if we could set up ‘cells’ of trained divers around the UK who could go out and recover this gear safely.”

The Dutch divers showed the Brits how it was done, and the small UK team managed significant clean-ups in Scapa Flow, resulting in the removal of several tonnes of lost fishing gear.

Ang ambisyon ay lumalaki, at ang misyon ay upang sanayin ang higit pang mga maninisid at palaguin ang mga selula ng mga maninisid sa buong UK na maaaring magsagawa ng gawaing ito.

Pagkatapos ng maraming buwan ng gabing nag-aayos ng mga papeles at lisensya, nagsimulang mabuo ang Ghost Fishing UK bilang isang seryosong organisasyon.

Richard and I hooked up with BSAC tagapagturo and friend Fred Nunn, and a committee was formed.

Delikado ang mga ghost fishing dives, there is no doubting that. The consequences of becoming tangled in a net or rope and being dragged to the surface by an unstoppable lift-supot are a very big concern.

We didn’t want anything bad ever to happen to any of our divers, so we began to create a pagsasanay course. We didn’t do it by halves.

Nagsimula kami sa ilang piniling maninisid na may karanasan sa teknikal na diving at may tiyak na dami ng kasanayan sa hindi magandang kondisyon. Ang kakayahan sa mahinang visibility, na may mataas na pagsasaalang-alang sa kamalayan ng koponan, ay mahalaga.

Ghost gear is something that divers are careful to avoid on their dives, steering well clear of monofilament nets and lines. In Ghost Fishing, we’re putting ourselves deliberately in very close contact with this stuff. It is essential that our trainers are very experienced in ghost-gear recoveries.

I can recall one dive in Scapa Flow at 48m in which Rich Walker was head-down, sawing away at a particularly stubborn piece of net.

Madilim, at lahat ng uri ng detritus ay nagiging malapit sa zero. Habang siya ay naglalagari, kinukunan ko ng pelikula at kinunan ng litrato ang aking papel bilang numero 3, o "overwatch".

Unknown to Rich, a huge layer of net peeled away above and enveloped him, covering his manifold.

I tucked my camera well out of the way. I leaned in and gave him a clenched fist sign to “stop”. He froze, and I carefully pulled his manifold – followed by him – out from under the heavy old net.

Pareho kaming nakagawa ng tama, at naiwasan ang sakuna. Ang huling bagay na kailangan mo ay isang wriggler, o isang taong umiikot sa sandaling malaman niyang may mali.

Several years on, one of our team got a bolt-snap hitched on a near invisible gill-net that he was cutting. His team-mate reacted immediately and fixed the problema. I looked on and was pleased that our pagsasanay methods were working.

We learned a lot in a short space of time. We did not want divers on single cylinders in those situations, and we had to insist on a high level of team-awareness, skill and ethos.

The Beta pagsasanay course was rolled out at Vobster using old nets and pots and, despite a convenient pagsasanay site with excellent facilities on hand, two days just wasn’t enough.

Binago namin ang kurso, at ikinalat ito sa loob ng tatlong araw kasama ang mga sesyon ng teorya. Kinailangan muna naming gumawa ng mga skills workshop kasama ang mga divers, bago kami tumuloy sa surveying at cutting at lifting.