Words by Smiley Team
One Newquay-based photographer has shown you’re never too small to make a difference, after he decided to salvage fishing nets and – with the help of his local community – recycle them into new plastic products.
Paul Smith spends a lot of time photographing both surfers and the ocean itself in Cornwall. "A common theme at a lot of beaches that I visit is that there are lost and discarded fishing nets - otherwise known as ghost nets - that are washed up on the shoreline, tangled in the rocks and sometimes still floating in the sea," he tells Smiley News.
The first time he saw a net on the beach, he assumed there was a system in place where the authorities would collect them, but sometimes he’d see the same net stuck on a beach on multiple visits across a period of weeks; it became clear a system wasn’t in place. “I started reading about ghost nets and the destruction they cause to wildlife and the environment," he says. "I could no longer continue to just leave them on the beaches."
So, he started to recover the nets, untangling them from the rocks, dragging them in from the sea and off the beaches. "I hadn’t anticipated the weight of the nets and the sheer size of them at times," he explains. "Some of the nets I’ve recovered have been hundreds of feet in length and if it wasn’t for people seeing me trying to drag it along by myself, or with my partner and offering to help, I'd never have been able to move some of them!
(Learn more about the five resolutions for cleaner oceans in 2022)
Paul estimates that in the 18 months he’s lived in Cornwall, he has recovered between 30-35 nets.
Ghost gear is by far the biggest source of plastic in our oceans. Sometimes fishing nets will come loose by accident and get lost, but quite often the nets are cut loose at sea, because they are at the end of their life and it costs the fishermen quite a lot of money per ton to dispose of them properly.
“It’s sad to think that sometimes, these nets have been purposefully cut loose to cause the destruction they do simply for financial reasons. It makes me proud to think that I’m doing my bit to help, stopping the wildlife from getting hurt and helping to clean up the beaches I work at so frequently,” he says.
At first he stored the nets in his garden, and then started a conversation on a local Facebook Group, explaining the situation and asking if anybody knew what he could do with them. It soon became obvious that he couldn’t take them to a recycling centre, as they’d just be dumped in landfill.
(Learn more about the smart bottle which cleans our oceans)
But his post was spotted by a local retailer, who approached him saying they were researching how to recycle the nets and give them a new life.
They shred the nets into small pieces, wash them, melt them down and can then create new plastic products with them.
Paul adds: “I’m in awe of what they do with the nets and how they give them a second chance. The nets I’ve recovered have been turned into sunglasses made from ocean plastic and they are experimenting with other products too. It’s heartwarming to see.”
FIND OUT MORE: You can find out about Paul's work on his website, pauldavidsmith.co.uk.
VOLUNTEER: Join a beach clean-up near you – search for one on beachcleans.org.uk.
JOIN OR DONATE: The Marine Conservation society is working towards a healthier ocean and healthier planet. Donate here.
