Indigenous Rangers Strengthen Fight Against Ghost Nets

Across Australia, more than 20 Indigenous ranger teams are removing deadly abandoned fishing nets from remote coastlines, protecting marine wildlife and culturally significant Country.

“Success won’t be measured by how many ghost nets we remove. It will be measured by how many never enter the ocean in the first place,” said Stephina Salee, executive officer of the Dhimurru Aboriginal Corporation.

Rangers are combining traditional stewardship with new technology, including AI-equipped drones that helped one team locate and remove 15 nets in four hours, compared with fewer than three found in a day previously. Dhimurru rangers alone cleared roughly 13 tonnes of marine debris in 2025, while ghost nets reaching northern shores are estimated to entangle between 4,000 and 14,000 turtles annually. Australia has committed AU$25.1 million over four years to expand Indigenous-led clean-ups and work with Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste to prevent lost fishing gear from entering the ocean, aiming to eliminate ghost gear from international and recreational sources on northern Australian beaches by 2030.