Colva: To combat marine pollution along Goa’s coastline, professional divers Levito Rodrigues, Hari Krishnan and Elias Salamao from Goa Diving retrieved nearly 100kg of abandoned fishing nets — commonly known as “ghost nets” — from the sea off Bogmalo beach in Vasco on Sunday.“We carry out this exercise every year as part of our mission to keep the sea clean. The situation is quite bad. We remove huge nets that are deeply entangled in underwater rocks, but there are also countless smaller pieces floating in the sea,” said diver Levito Rodrigues. Rodrigues said the problem is worsening each year.Ghost nets pose a severe threat to marine ecosystems. Invisible from the surface, these nets continue to trap fish, turtles, crustaceans and other marine species, causing “silent destruction” beneath the waves. Divers said that these floating fragments move across the seabed and water column as the tides shift, trapping additional debris along the way.Rodrigues said the problem worsens with changing sea conditions. “As the nets move with the tide, other waste items get entangled, increasing their buoyancy. During rough sea conditions, these accumulated masses are pushed further out into the sea,” he said. This cycle spreads pollution over a wider area, making retrieval difficult and hazardous.The divers emphasised that while private initiatives help marine conservation, the scale of the problem demands institutional intervention. Rodrigues urged authorities to deploy specialised agencies with advanced technology and trained manpower to identify and remove ghost nets from deeper waters.“These nets destroy deep-sea marine life. As private players, we try to do our bit because we love the water and deep-sea diving. But dedicating ourselves entirely to this cause is difficult as we also have to cater to our business,” he added.Bogmalo is a popular beach that attracts both tourists and local fishermen. Clean water is crucial for biodiversity and livelihoods that depend on fishing and tourism. Environmentalists have highlighted the problem of marine litter along Goa’s coast, with ghost nets forming a major portion of underwater waste.The divers’ cleanup team said that more ghost nets remain hidden beneath the surface.
