Ghost Gear — Stop the Strangle
Oceans cover most of our planet, giving us life, regulating our climate, and feeding millions of people. However, our marine environments face a silent, deadly crisis: ghost fishing gear.
Lost or discarded nets, lines, ropes, and traps drift silently through the water, trapping and killing marine life year after year.
To fight this threat, the Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) launched a powerful national initiative called “Stop the Strangle”.
Understanding WESSA’s “Stop the Strangle” campaign
Ghost gear makes up roughly 10% of all marine pollution globally. Every year hundreds of thousands of marine mammals, seabirds, turtles, and sharks suffer slow, agonizing deaths from entanglement.
Recognizing that traditional beach clean-ups were not enough to target specialized fishing debris, WESSA rolled out “Stop the Strangle” under its established Green Coast Programme.
The campaign focuses on several core objectives:
- Targeted infrastructure: Installing specialized collection bins to intercept discarded fishing line before it reaches the ocean.
- Citizen science: Encouraging beachgoers, fishermen, and local volunteers to collect, remove, and report ghost gear.
- Data collection: Building a national database to monitor marine pollution trends and guide future environmental policies.
- Public awareness: Educating communities and visitors at major coastal events about the hazards of marine entanglement.
How you can help
Leisure Bay was selected as an official site for the rollout of WESSA’s specialized ghost-line collection bins. These units are placed near the exit paths from our beaches and fishing spots. We ask that all beachgoers remove abandoned fishing line, hooks, nets and related debris, and deposit them in these bins.
Small actions like this can help save our wildlife.
Watch
See the campaign in action:
Watch the Stop the Strangle film on TikTok
@namib_naude Last year my son @dylan.dreyer_ and I came across this big female seal carry about 50lbs on discarded trawler net. It’s a miracle she made it to the beach. It took us about 10 minutes of cutting these thick nylon strands to get her free. It was her lucky day 🦭🦭🦭 #animalrescue #sealrescue #oceanconservation #marinelifematters #fyp
