Could biodegradable gillnets help rid the ocean of ghost fishing?Todos que acompanham o blog sabem que redes fantasmas sao um grandeproblema nos oceanos e para a vida marinha! Muitos pesquisadores tem estudadocomo reduzir os impactos seja na fase preventiva ou na fase demitigacao (leia o que fazemos), assim como o Projeto Petrechos de Pesca Perdidos no Mar.Vamos falar de artigo, onde pesquisadores estao tentando criar redes deemalhar biodegradaveis, que poderiam diminuir muito a pesca fantasma.Everyone following the blogknows that ghost nets are a big problem in the oceans and for marine life! Manyresearchers have studied how to reduce impacts either in the "preventivephase" or in the "mitigation phase" (read "what we do"), Lost Fishing Gear Project as well.Let's talk about a paper, whereresearchers are trying to create biodegradable gill nets, which are greatlydecrease ghost fishing:Redes de pesca perdidas, abandonadas ou descartadas no mar representam 10%de todo lixo marinho que circula nos oceanos do mundo. Estas 640 mil toneladasde redes sao muito mais do que apenas um problema de poluicao plastica, elascontinuam pescando peixes, aves marinhas e mamiferos (pesca fantasma).Fishing nets that have beenlost, abandoned, or discarded at sea account for ten percent of all the marinelitter circulating in the worlds oceans. These 640,000 tonnes of nets arentjust a plastic pollution problem, however. Long after they are lost, theycontinue to fish at sea on their own, trapping not only fish but seabirds andmammals in a phenomenon known as ghost fishing.Exemplo de rede de emalhe fantasma. Foto:http://casekassenberg.comPara combater esse problema, pesquisadores tem desenvolvido redes deemalhar feitas de materiais biodegradaveis, mas o grande desafio tem sido deixa-lastao eficientes quanto as convencionais. Em um dos estudos mais abrangentes atehoje, os pesquisadores avaliaram o desempenho de uma rede de emalhebiodegradavel no mar e sua degradabilidade no laboratorio. Os resultadospublicados fornecem algumas boas noticias.To tackle this problem, researchershave been developing gillnets made of biodegradable materials, but thechallenge has been to make them as good at catching fish as conventionalgillnets are. In one of the most comprehensive studies to date,researchers assessed the fishing performance of a biodegradable gillnet at seaand its degradability in the lab. The results, published recently in AnimalConservation, provide some good news.O desempenho das redes biodegradaveis foi testada a cada dois mesesdurante quatro anos. Eles tambem mediram a forca, flexibilidade e outraspropriedades fisicas das redes, comparando-as com redes convencionais.The fishing performance of thebiodegradable nets were tested during six outings of a commercialyellow-croaker fishing vessel in the waters off southwestern South Korea. Thebiodegradability of the nets was tested by placing 30 sets of net samples inplastic containers at sea. The researchers used a scanning electron microscopeto assess the samples every two months for four years. They also measured thestrength, flexibility, and other physical properties of the nets, comparingthem to conventional nets.Fonte: bluelinesystem.org.brOs pesquisadores descobriram que as redes de emalhar biodegradaveissao mais rigidas, e ela pode ser a razao pela qual teve uma diminuicao de capturade fauna acompanhante e de exemplares juvenis, diz Suuronen.Researchers found thebiodegradable gillnets to be stiffer, which they initially thought would affectperformance, says Suuronen. They were pleasantly surprised to find out that itdid not.