Plastic pollution from fishing nets threatening Ganges wildlife: study

Established in 1982 and stationed at Dehradun, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) is an internationally acclaimed Institution, which offers training programs, academic courses and advisory in wildlife research and management.
It is an Autonomous Institution of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

A group of scientists from international team including people from Wildlife Institute of India has published a paper in Science of The Total Environment, regarding their study of Plastic Pollution from discarded fishing gear in the River Ganga.
They did research along the river length from Himalayas to its delta reaching Bay of Bengal.
The researchers used a list of 21 river species of “conservation concern” to assess the effect of fishing gear pollution.

The waste from the fishing gear is largely found near to the sea.
High rates of fishing equipment are being discarded by fishermen in the river due to short gear lifespans and lack of appropriate disposal systems.
Major threat after the assessment focussed is found to be entanglement, which is known to injure and kill a wide range of marine species.

There is a lack of recycling systems for the used nets. People’s misconception that the rivers cleans itself and further dispose of used nets should be eradicated through public awareness programs.
Nylon 6 can be extracted from these used nets to reuse them back in carpets and clothing to give way for circular economy of waste management.

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