Nestlé, the world's leading food company and the UK's well-known supermarket chain, have joined the ' Global Phantom Equipment Program ' to help deal with more than 640,000 tonnes of discarded fishing gear stranded in the oceans each year. Founded in 2015, Gggi is a non-profit global alliance and agency dedicated to tackling the problem of marine waste fishing gear on a global scale.
Marine fishing gear includes discarded, lost and discarded plastic fishing nets, fishing lines and other fishing tools.
In addition to today's announcement, the operation also disclosed a series of commitments to protect marine life from fishing gear.
The operation pledged to charge its members an additional one-time support cost of $2 million in 2019 to ensure an effective expansion of projects to address and prevent the abandoned of fishing gear, in particular the issue of marine fishing gear pollution in developing countries.
The organization will also fund 30 projects dedicated to the disposal of lost nets in 15 countries until 2025. Ingrid Giskes, head of the Global Ocean Change division of the World Organization for Animal Protection, said, ' If we are to sustain the sustainable multiplication of marine populations and to restore clean, prosperous oceans, marine abandoned fishing gear is the key issue we need to address today.
' "I am gratified that large corporations and government sectors can be the backbone of this initiative, thus ensuring that we take advantage of the efforts of all parties to truly implement the SDGs."
' ' Today's pledge will help us to prevent fishing gear from the source and tackle the fishing gear that has been stranded in the ocean, thus achieving the goal of reducing marine abandoned fishing gear.
' Gggi said, ' about 5% to 30% of the fish species decline, marine abandoned fishing gear is the culprit.
' The organization has 91 members of the global organization, including Lidl, who joined in September, as well as other UK food retailers including Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Marks and Spencer and Waitrose.
Gggi says food retailers play an important role in the alliance because they are able to ensure that the seafood supply chain meets the best standards to prevent fishing gear from being stranded in the oceans. Nestlé and Tesco join in action against marine plastic tackle pollution