Loose commercial fishing nets – called ghost nets – can weigh thousands of pounds and are estimated to make up 10% of all marine trash.
They collect everything in their path as they sink.
About 14% of the mammals rescued by The Marine Mammal Center are impacted by hazards like fishing nets and plastic bags, bottles and utensils.
Each year, over 25 million tons of ocean wildlife like dolphins and seals are caught and killed as by-catch from unsustainable commercial fishing! Commit to only eating sustainably caught fish. Learn more
Over 1,000 volunteers help the Center rescue and rehabilitate marine mammals. Without them, we can't do what we do. Watch our volunteer Raya's story, and see how and why she helps the Center.
Richard and Judith Lang used a ghost net to create their art exhibit, Indra's Net. The net represents how we're all interconnected. The promises on the net – like the jewels on Indra's Net in Hindu legend – hold our wishes, dreams and visions for a healthy ocean habitat for all marine life.
We're creating a virtual Indra's Net across the entire globe, filled with promises from people who want to help make the oceans healthier. It could be one of the four Rs—
Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle—or another action you want to take. Add your promise to our net now.
Elephant seals can dive to 5,000 feet and stay underwater for two hours at a time! Sometimes, ocean trash lands them in our care. Stout, a young elephant seal, was found entangled in fishing net. Read how our team of veterinarians and volunteers rescued and rehabilitated him before releasing him back into the wild. Read more
Sperm whales dive to depths of 10,000 feet to feed. Sometimes, what seems like food isn't.
Richard and Judith Lang created The Ghost Net Monster sculpture from 450 pounds of ghost net pulled from the belly of a dead sperm whale. Watch their story.
When the net is freed of fish and debris, it rises again to the surface and repeats the cycle.
"This thing is rising and falling in the ocean, silently moving and capturing anything and everything."
—Judith Lang, artist