ghost fishing

British

noun

the continued trapping and killing of marine life by a discarded fishing net floating at sea

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The rest are burned, buried, sent out of the country -- or just pile up and contribute to something called ghost fishing.

From Science Daily • Feb. 13, 2024

Between Hawai'i and California, in a stretch of water known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, much of the metric tonnage of plastic is comprised of ghost fishing gear.

From Salon • Jan. 30, 2023

"The best estimate I've seen is about 10% of fish stock is trapped and killed by ghost fishing gear," Lantinga says.

From Salon • Jan. 30, 2023

A 2001 study suggested that ghost fishing kills 4 million to 10 million blue crabs each year in Louisiana alone.

From Washington Times • Apr. 15, 2016

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023