Ghost Fishing UK is not anti-fishing. Stopping fishermen from losing nets or pots accidentally from bad weather or accidental breakage, is almost impossible as it is not a deliberate act. We take the approach that if we work with the fishing community rather than pointing the finger of blame, they are far more likely to engage with us and tell us where they lost their nets or pots so that we can recover them in a timely manner. This method is already working and we have a number of fishing boats willing to offer support and information and in some cases, the use of their vessels, to locate and recover lost fishing gear. Since its inception, Ghost Fishing UK has worked closely with Dr Joanne Porter at Heriot Watt University. Her department are working hard on sustainable inshore fisheries and looking into the issue of ghost gear as one of the contributing factors when it comes to sustainability. Ghost Fishing UK have a ghost gear Reporting Form, which is critical in gathering data of the scale of the problem. Without this data, it is impossible to explain the significance of the issue to anyone who will listen and preventing the gear from being lost in the first place depends on proving that it is happening. Ghost Fishing UK supports divers in documenting and reporting any ghost gear they see on their dives and responding to reports to make plans to retrieve it. By photographing and filming the impact that ghost gear has, we are in a unique position to demonstrate what is going on in our oceans to the non-diving public, who have both a voice and a vote. There are a number of projects and ideas for aiding the prevention of ALDFG but with an estimated figure of 640,000 metric tonnes of ghost gear being lost in the oceans every year, the legacy issue has left a mammoth clean up task.