Concern is mounting over the amount of wantonly abandoned fishing gear that’s being discarded around the west Wales coastline after a dead baby seal was found washed up entangled in rope.
The discovery was made on Friday morning (August 4) on the north end of Aberarth beach in mid Ceredigion.
“It was a very sad sight,” said David Barber who made the discovery.
“I’m guessing it got tangled up in fishing gear, possibly nets, and drowned. It looks as if they then tied the tail to try and lift it up and cut it free. But that’s just my speculation.
“If an animal dies of natural causes, then that’s the way it is. But when it involves man-made stuff, it's seriously sad.”
Mr Barber went on to say that the beaches around his stretch of the Ceredigion coastline are generally kept clear of discarded rubbish.
“People do seem to pick up most of what’s found on the beach and leave it above high tide line, although we rarely see any Ceredigion Council staff assisting with the clearing," he said.
The amount of marine mammals, fish and birds that are getting caught in lost or abandoned fishing gear - otherwise known as ‘ghost gear’- is staggering.
A report published by the UN Environment Programme in 2022 said that more than 100,000 seals, whales, dolphins and turtles are killed every year as a result of abandoned fishing nets, long lines, fish traps and lobster pots. Some of the abandoned nets can be as big as football pitches, and its plastic-based ghost gear can take up to 600 years to break down, shedding microplastics as it degrades.
Seabirds gather pieces of netting to make their nests and can then become entangled.
Ghost gear also threatens shallow coral reefs and damages fisheries by killing seafood that would otherwise form part of the global catch, costing millions of dollars in losses.
While public awareness of marine plastic pollution has fuelled a global movement to eliminate unnecessary single-use plastics from our daily lives, the damage caused by ghost gear is less well known, partly because the deadly consequences play out on the high seas, far from human eyes.
It is estimated that between 600,000–800,000 metric tonnes of ghost gear enters the ocean each year.
“The lesson from today’s tragic discovery is that if anyone see any rubbish on the beach, please, please pick it up,” concluded David Barber.
“Drag it above the highest tide line if it’s sizeable or bin it. It could save a life.”
Meanwhile Ceredigion County Council has confirmed it is saddened to learn of the baby seal's death.
"This is a national issue which requires a national response," a spokesperson said.
"The responsibility for dealing with all waste legally and responsibly lies with the producers of that waste. This relates to domestic and trade waste which would include all waste arising from commercial fishing activity. When this does not happen, as in this case, the consequences can be horrific.
"Thankfully the vast majority of people do deal with their waste responsibly and legally, but incidents such as this should only serve to influence those who currently do not. It’s difficult to understand how anyone wouldn’t change their behaviour if their actions lead to consequences such as this."
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