Title: Harry Chan Tin-ming (陳天明) – Hong Kong’s Ghost Net Hunter
Ghost nets are fishing nets that have been discarded, lost or abandoned in the ocean. It is estimated that around 600,000 tons of these ghost nets are generated worldwide every year, and that fishing related plastics make up 46% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is mostly held together by these discarded nets.
Over a decade ago Harry Chan declared war on marine trash and has since then been working tirelessly to clean up Hong Kong waters of ghost nets. These nets are usually left tangled on a rocky reef or drifting in the open ocean. They can entangle fish, dolphins, sea turtles, seabirds, in fact all creatures of the sea, including the occasional human diver.
Commercial fishermen often use gillnets, which are suspended in the sea by flotation buoys along one edge forming a vertical wall hundreds of metres long, where any fish within a certain size range can be caught. If the net is not withdrawn after use, they continue to trap sea creatures until the weight of the catch exceeds the buoyancy of the floats and the whole thing sinks to the bottom. In time the floats pull the net back up again and the cycle continues.
Given the high-quality synthetics that are used today, the destruction just goes on and on. In 2020 Harry was awarded the Medal of Honour by the Hong Kong Government for his volunteer work in ocean conservation and environmental awareness.
I met up with Harry recently and he told me that one day, many years ago, he decided to make a commitment - to do his best to protect our oceans, not just for today but for future generations. And, at 71 years of age, that’s what he continues to do. A hero, and an example to us all.
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