Every weekend, Bourton Scott suits up and dives into the ocean — not to fish, but to clean up what's been left behind. What he pulls from the water is something most people never see, but it's quietly doing damage all along British Columbia's coast.

What's happening?

Scott, a commercial diver and part-time conservationist based in Ladysmith, a small town on the east coast of Vancouver Island, is focused on recovering "ghost gear," the fishing nets, crab traps, and lines that have been lost or abandoned at sea, he told the Vancouver Sun. Though out of sight, these tools continue to catch and kill marine life long after they're forgotten.

According to Joel Baziuk of Ocean Conservancy's ghost gear initiative, "Nobody wants to lose their gear," but rough weather and dangerous currents often make recovery impossible.

Gillnets are especially harmful, Scott explained, because "they're the hardest to see in the water … which makes them a much more dangerous hazard for those animals living in those areas."

"Under every gillnet that I've found, there's always a bone pile," Scott added. On a dive near Alert Bay, his team hauled up a gillnet with 15 live crabs, the skull of a sea otter, and the remains of several birds.

Scott co-founded the Emerald Sea Protection Society to take action. With support from Namgis Nation and the Ocean Conservancy, this team organizes cleanups along B.C.'s 20,000-kilometer coastline. 

Why is cleaning up ghost gear important?

Ghost gear is one of the largest sources of plastic pollution in the ocean, making up an estimated 70-90% of the plastic in offshore garbage patches, including the infamous Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Unlike cups or straws that eventually wash up on shore, lost nets and traps keep doing exactly what they were built to do: catch and kill.

The damage affects more than just aquatic ecosystems. Coastal communities that depend on healthy fisheries have lost valuable seafood to ghost gear. And according to researcher Jackie Hildering, roughly half of B.C.'s humpback whales bear scars from entanglements, though it's unclear how many are due to ghost gear specifically.

What's being done about ghost gear?

Canada launched the Ghost Gear Fund in 2019 and has since invested $58 million into 143 recovery projects. Fisheries and Oceans Canada now requires commercial fishers to report lost gear, though only 288 reports were filed from the West Coast between 2020 and 2024.

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Grassroots efforts such as Scott's are helping fill the gap. The Emerald Sea Protection Society is one of several groups working with Indigenous peoples, researchers, and international nongovernmental organizations to raise awareness and remove ghost gear before it does more damage.

Individuals can help by donating to or joining ocean cleanup efforts, supporting policies that incentivize gear recovery, and cutting their own plastic use.

It's a long process, but every net removed is a step toward healthier oceans and stronger coastal communities.

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