Ghost fishing net removed in the Medes Islands marine reserve
A team of researchers of the Faculty of Biology and the Biodiversity Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (IRBio), together with the staff of the Natural Park of Montgrí, Medes Islands and Baix Ter, and the Grup d’Actuacions Especials dels Bombers de la Generalitat (Catalan firefighter service; GRAE), could get a fishing net abandoned in the Marine Reserve of the Medes Islands, this September.
The first localization warning was made by an instructor of a diving center in Estartit (Baix Empordà). The net taken from the sea bed is 200 meters long and weighs a lot; it was put on a sandy bottom with pebbles and some rocks. With the data given by the instructor and according to the level of epibiosis (encrusted organisms) the net shows, it is thought to have remained underwater for two years.