YEAR ONE The Olive Ridley Project, founded in the Maldives in 2013, attempts to identify key factors contributing to ghost net production in the Indian Ocean. WHAT ARE GHOST NETS? Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been discarded, abandoned or lost in the ocean. SILENT KILLERS Nets will often be taken by oceanic currents and travel huge distances. This means that their detrimental effects can be prevalent far from their original point of entry into the water. They will entangle many threatened animals along the way. MANATEES RAYS SEA BIRDS SEA TURTLES SHARKS DOLPHINS WHALES Coral reefs can also be smothered and fouled by nets causing further loss of life. ARABIAN SEA BAY OF BENGAL INDIA ACTION SRI LANKA The Olive Ridley Project is working to tackle the ghost net problem in MALDIVES the Indian Ocean using four main focus areas: Research, awareness, removal and recycling. SEYCHELLES TURTLES 66 ENTANGLED IN GHOST NETS 1 GREEN TURTLES 4 HAWKSBILL TURTLES 61 OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLES 3 NOONU BAA 23 3 LHAVIYANI 13 NORTH MALE ARI 13 8 SOUTH MALE DHAALU 2 LOCATIONS OF ENTANGLEMENTS MALDIVES 1 GAAFU ALIFU TURTLES OLIVE RIDLEYS 66 ENTANGLED IN GHOST NETS 61 ANALYSED TURTLES FOUND ENTANGLED SEX/AGE Olive Ridley, Hawksbill and Green Olive Ridley JAN 18 FEB 6 MALE 1 MAR 13 JUVENILE 47 APR 2 FEMALE 5 UNKNOWN 8 MAY 3 JUN 1 JUL 10 AUG 5 SEP 0 OCT 1 NOV 0 DEC 2 In its first year, the Olive Ridley Project found that 77% of turtles 77% recorded in ghost nets were juveniles. It is illegal to fish using nets within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Maldives, so where do the ghost nets ? we find come from? POLE AND LINE HANDLINE ARABIAN SEA BAY OF BENGAL INDIA SRI LANKA MALDIVES OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLES FOUND PER MONSOON SW South West MONSOON SEYCHELLES 20 ARABIAN SEA BAY OF BENGAL INDIA SRI LANKA MALDIVES Trackers on drifting fish aggregating devices (dFADs) have led us to purse-seine vessels in the Western Indian Ocean. SEYCHELLES ARABIAN SEA BAY OF BENGAL OLIVE RIDLEY TURTLES INDIA FOUND PER MONSOON NE SRI LANKA North East MONSOON 41 MALDIVES SEYCHELLES ARABIAN SEA BAY OF BENGAL Ghost nets from the Maldives INDIA have being found to have the same measurements of nets used in India. Markings on bottles and floats also point to SRI LANKA a South East Asian origin. MALDIVES SEYCHELLES PURSE-SEINE USING DFADS DRIFTING GILL NET The fishing techniques illustrated here are more likely to contribute to the ghost net problem TRAWLING Odisha INDIA During the North East Monsoon, tens of thousands of Olive Ridleys are on their way to and from their mass nesting event in Orissa, India. NETS NETS FOUND BY AREA 74 ANALYSED ARI 3 BAA 34 Between July 2013 - July 2014 DHAALU 2 At least 107 nets were found INDIA 12 and 74 analysed (in the NOONU 2 Maldives, India, and Sri Lanka). NORTH MALE 14 It is likely that many more RAA 1 floated by unseen. SOUTH ARI 3 SRI LANKA 3 NETS NETS FOUND PER MONTH 59 FOUND MALDIVES ONLY IN THE MALDIVES DEC 0 JAN 10 North East FEB 4 MONSOON MAR 6 APR 9 MAY 4 JUN 2 South West JUL 5 MONSOON AUG 11 SEP 5 OCT 0 NOV 3 MIN MAX AVERAGE MESH SIZE 2mm MESH SIZE 1200mm MESH SIZE 195mm MESH SIZES (mm) of NETS WITH ENTANGLED TURTLES 35 50 72 75 80 91 115 170 180 190 241 281 295 300 350 380 385 490 510 590 The most dangerous mesh size for turtles is 35-590mm. The Olive Ridley Project is a citizen science-based project where anyone can contribute to the prevention of ghost nets. If you’re in the Indian Ocean region you can get involved by removing any ghost nets you find when snorkeling or walking the beach. You can collect valuable information on the design of ghost nets and about associated marine organisms to help scientists identify where these nets are coming from. 35 mm www.oliveridleyproject.org .