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Are ghost nets real or just a ghost story?

By IW:LEARN

November 26^th, 2025

Most people hear the term “ghost nets” and imagine something distant or invisible, drifting beneath the waves and appearing only in reports or documentaries. But in the Arafura Sea of eastern Indonesia, ghost nets are a daily reality. They affect fishing income, navigation safety and coastal environments. Fishers encounter them during routine trips and continue to deal with their impacts long after a net is lost.

Field visits by the ATSEA team in September 2025 provided insights into how fishers experience and manage lost gear across Fisheries Management Area (FMA) 718. To deepen this understanding, ATSEA collaborated with IPB University to conduct a field survey on Abandoned, Lost and Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG) in two key locations: Merauke in South Papua Province and Dobo in the Aru Islands of Maluku Province. The survey gathered information on how and where nets are lost, the challenges fishers face in retrieving them and how damaged gear is handled once it returns to shore.

A pile of gillnets fills the deck as fishers in Merauke prepare for their next trip at sea.

Merauke in South Papua Province is one of the key fishing hubs in the FMA 718 area. The region borders Papua New Guinea and the Arafura Sea and is home to thousands of fishers whose lives depend on these waters.

Rusman, a crew member of the motorboat Cahaya Rejeki, said nets are often lost when set near border waters. “If they’re gone, we can’t get them back, ” he said.

Another fisher, Ilyas Alexander Gebze, described what happens when nets are placed near mangrove areas and exposed to strong currents and passing boats. “When they drift off, it’s almost impossible to find them.” He explained.

Sometimes nets tear when they catch on rocks along the seabed.

“Sometimes we see nets floating, but we don’t take them in because it’s risky,”

said Sija, chief engineer of the motorboat Davonsoro. For many fishers, the issue does not end at sea. Old or damaged nets are usually left along the Maro Riverbank.

“There’s no place to store them,”

said Johanes, another crew member.

Limited facilities remain a major challenge in handling fishing gear waste. According to Isman Elvianto from the Merauke Environmental Agency, placing containers around the port could help manage discarded nets, but the number of containers is still not enough. “The need is quite large, so we have to prioritise which areas to cover first,” he explained.

The same issue appears further west in the Aru Islands, where Dobo stands out as another major fishing hub, landing an average of 32,172 tonnes of fish every year. Gillnets and purse seines are the dominant gears used by both local and visiting fishers.

“My net often gets caught on coral or rocks due to strong undercurrents,”

said Angel Berthus, a traditional gillnet fisher.

“Once, it was struck by a passenger boat propeller and torn apart. It was a big loss that night.”

For other fishers, the main concern is navigation. “If a net gets cut and cannot be retrieved, it drifts with the current and becomes dangerous for ships. Many times, vessels passing through get their propellers entangled,” said Kelvin Hadi Saputra, another gillnet fisher from Dobo.

There are also cases where nets are damaged by large marine animals. “Every night, our nets get torn badly because of dolphins. I’m not blaming them, but the more we try to chase them away, the more of them come, and the nets end up even more damaged. Usually, the torn parts are thrown away on land and replaced with new ones,” explained Thonci Karel Ratu, a traditional fisher from Dobo.

Not all stories are about loss. Some fishers find drifting nets that are still usable and choose to keep them from further polluting the sea. “I found this net floating with no owner, so I decided to reuse it for my own,” said Arifin, a gillnet fisher from Dobo.

ATSEA team member (in black T-shirt) interviews a local fisher on a fishing vessel in Dobo, gathering information on daily fishing practices and fishing gear management.

Local authorities are working to respond.

“We are currently working to address this fishing net waste problem. One of our plans is to develop a local regulation to manage waste from fishing activities.”

said Benyamin S. Batmomolin, Acting Head of the Aru Islands Regency Fisheries Office.

The experiences from Merauke and Dobo show that ghost nets are not distant or invisible. They begin as everyday working tools and become hazards when they are lost, abandoned or damaged beyond repair. Fishers see them drift into busy routes, feel them catch on propellers and watch fragments wash ashore along rivers and beaches.

For the communities of the Arafura Sea, the question is not whether ghost nets are real. They have seen what happens when nets do not return and know that each loss represents both a financial hit and a risk to the ocean that sustains them. Their voices show why any solution must start with the people who face this problem every time they go to sea.

About the ATSEA Program

The Arafura and Timor Seas Ecosystem Action (ATSEA) Program is a long-term regional initiative that unites the governments of Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Timor-Leste to sustainably manage the shared resources of the Arafura and Timor Seas (ATS). Guided by the Strategic Action Programme (SAP) 2024–2033, ATSEA promotes regional collaboration to address transboundary challenges such as marine plastic and ghost gear, oil spill risks, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, and the decline of endangered species and critical habitats.

Since its beginnings in 2003 and through two project phases (ATSEA-1 and ATSEA-2), the Program has evolved into a regional coordination mechanism endorsed by ATS countries under the 2024 Sydney Declaration. Today, the ATSEA Program strengthens ocean governance, advances ecosystem-based management, and supports inclusive policies that secure biodiversity, fisheries, and livelihoods for millions of coastal people across the ATS region. The Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA) serves as the Program’s first Strategic Development Partner (SDP), providing technical guidance, co-financing and capacity development in support of SAP implementation.