GhostNet Project: Derelict fish net detection

Lost or abandoned fishing nets threaten fish, birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals in the open ocean. When entangled in coral reefs, these nets can also damage the reef environment. The GhostNet project (an industry, Government, and academia partnership) utilizes circulation models, drifting buoys, satellite imagery, and airborne surveys with remote sensing instruments in the detection of derelict nets at sea. These components were employed for the detection of marine debris during a 14-day aircraft survey of the Gulf of Alaska. Altimeter data from CCAR at the University of Colorado was among the suite of data used to locate convergent areas where nets were likely to collect. An aircraft survey with visible and IR cameras and a LIDAR instrument located debris in the targeted locations.