“It is essential that we support initiatives such as this competition in order to protect marine life and ocean habitats from the threats of plastic pollution.” - Our founder Charles Redfern on supporting the first of three annual Ghost gear removal competitions in the Azores, home of our Azores Quality Skipjack Tuna. This year, small-scale tuna fishers in the Azores are taking part in the world’s first competition to remove abandoned floating fishing gear at-sea. The First of Three Annual Ghost Gear Removal Competitions Launches in the Azores.

Located at the fringe of the North Atlantic subtropical gyre, the Azores falls within a retention zone for floating ocean plastic, and the majority of this pollution floating into the Azores is fishing gear that has been lost or abandoned by foreign fisheries operating elsewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

Ghost gear threatens almost all marine life in the Azores, such as common dolphins, sperm whales, and each year are visited by loggerhead turtles, blue whales, sei whales and other endangered megafauna.

It is estimated that 10% of the plastic in the ocean comes from lost, abandoned or discarded fishing gear, also referred to as ‘ghost gear’. 
 
This competition will be the first in a series of three annual competitions taking place until 2023, encouraging fishers to remove any ghost gear and plastic waste they encounter on fishing trips, and we couldn’t be prouder to be supporting such a great cause.