Warning about 'ghost' fishing gear after gull swallows 5 cm hook

A five-centimetre fishing line recovered from a seagull is seen in an image provided by the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C.

An animal rescue based in B.C.'s Lower Mainland has issued a warning about so-called "ghost" fishing gear after a gull swallowed a five-centimetre hook.

The bird suffered severe injuries and did not survive, according to the Wildlife Rescue Association of B.C.

The organization shared a picture of the recovered hook Monday to highlight the dangers that discarded fishing gear, or ghost gear, can have on wildlife.

"We regularly intake wildlife that have been injured by hooks or caught up in line and nets," the rescue's Jackie McQuillan said in a statement. "It's more rare that we can recover the hook that caused the damage."

Ghost gear can include many kinds of equipment, including traps and floats.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans considers ghost gear some of the "most harmful debris" found off Canada's coasts, and has deemed it an issue of national importance.

Since 2020, the federal government has spent $16.7 million to support dozens of projects aimed at retrieving ghost gear and otherwise addressing the problem.

On a global scale, it's estimated as much as 800,000 metric tonnes of ghost gear enters the oceans annually, impacting as much as 30 per cent of harvestable fish, according to the DFO.

Studies also indicate ghost gear makes up 70 per cent of all microplastics in the ocean by weight.