Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A “shocking” amount of marine life is being ensnared in abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear adrift in Canada’s oceans, internal federal data reveals.

Nearly 86,000 marine animals were caught up in “ghost gear” between 2020 and 2023, according to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) data obtained by Canada’s National Observer through an access to information request.

Of that total, 85 per cent was classified as a “commercially valuable species,” DFO staff stated in a June 2024 memo to former fisheries minister Diane Lebouthillier.

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