Purse Seine Guidebook
Until recently, one of the most concerning FAD impacts was ghost fishing, caused by the entanglement of marine fauna in the netting that was commonly used to construct FADs. The sub-surface material of FADs, when constructed using mesh or netting material and hanging in panels suspended below the raft, can potentially entangle animals, including sensitive species such as sharks and turtles, and cause ghost fishing.
Shark Mortality
“Ghost fishing” was identified as a significant source of shark mortality, particularly in the Indian Ocean in 2012, when most FADs were constructed using netting material (Filmalter et al., 2013). Since 2013, beginning with the IOTC, tuna RFMOs have adopted management measures promoting the use of alternative, non-entangling designs.
Currently, starting in 2025, all tropical tuna RFMOs mandate the use of only fully non-entangling FADs, without any netting in any components, including both the raft and the tail. Thus, vessels should comply with these measures and deploy only fully non-entangling FADs without netting or mesh material.
If correctly implemented and verified, the use of fully non-entangling FADs without netting can effectively minimize FAD-related ghost fishing. The transition to fully non-entangling FADs represents a major tep forward, made possible through the collaboration of fishers like you as well as the scientists and managers who supported the adoption of this measure in various ways. Fisher use of fully non-entangling FADs is another ISSF global priority that has been achieved through collaboration.
Ghost Fishing
“Ghost fishing” was identified as a significant source of shark mortality, particularly in the Indian Ocean in 2012, when most FADs were constructed using netting material. (Filmalter, et al., 2013)
Nowadays, however, this is not considered to be a problem because all tropical tuna RFMOs mandate the use of only fully non-entangling FADs without any netting in their components.
