Giant ghost net washes up on Newquay beach and will now be recycled
The trawler net will be turned into new products like sunglasses and litter pickers
Last updated 28th Jan 2022
A massive trawler net has been found washed up on a beach in Newquay.
Local company Waterhaul received a social media tip-off about the net that was buried deep in the sand at Tolcarne.
The Waterhaul team (Harry, Gavin, Hettie and Kieran) leapt into action, spending a couple of hours digging the net out of the sand with the help of some local workmen who were working on the beach at the time.
Discarded fishing gear and ghost nets are the most common and also the most lethal forms of plastic in our ocean.
In a phenomenon known as ‘ghost fishing’, the entangled and trapped marine life will attract more species, resulting in an ongoing loop of catches. As these discarded nets are produced from plastic, they will not degrade, persisting in the ocean to catch and kill marine life indefinitely.
Harry Dennis, Waterhaul CEO said: “We founded Waterhaul as frustrated marine conservationists - every winter our beaches in Cornwall are inundated with ghost gear and we were finding lines and offcuts daily.
"This was a large, heavy net that took the team a lot of time and effort to recover, having to dig it out of the sand and then drag it up the cliffs. However we cannot leave nets like these on the beaches to cause more damage than they already have.”
The net will be recycled and reused, being turned into new products such as sunglasses and litter pickers.