Underwater cleanup volunteers with the collected ghost nets.
KOTA KINABALU: Underwater clean-up volunteers collected over 36kg of “ghost nets” from the waters off Tanjung Simpang Mengayau in Sabah’s northern Kudat district on Saturday (Nov 12).
The programme organised by the Kudat Turtle Conservation Society (KTCS) with the collaboration of the Sabah Fisheries Department, was held in conjunction with the International Coastal Cleanup Day.
According to a Facebook post from the KTCS, these ghost nets weighing 36.5kg were removed during the underwater clean-up programme.
The presence of these nets were due to the heavy fishing activities in the area, said the KTCS.
Volunteers from Bluefin Kudat, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Malaysia, Tommy's Place, Kotak-Kotak Borneo, and the communities from Kg Bavang Jamal and Kg Simpang Mengayau had all contributed in their own way to make the clean-up a success, said the KTCS.
"We hope that more programmes like this can be held to keep the ocean clean and to engage more people in caring for it," said the society.
The discarded “ghost nets” are a terrible source of plastic pollution in the ocean, ensnaring turtles and other marine species and cut into delicate coral beds, thus negatively affecting the marine ecosystem.
