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From the article:

"Unlike other forms of marine debris, fishing gear is specifically designed to catch marine life. Under certain conditions, derelict gear can continue to catch and kill organisms for years."

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The issue is economic incentives do not align. The fisher can bring it back to shore and probably have to pay to dispose of it in a landfill. Or they can drop it in the ocean for free, while creating a negative externality.

If someone setup a fund to pay fisherman 5 cents a pound to bring their nets back, and then they would deal with disposal, they could avert most of this. No one has stepped up with $50 million a year tho to solve this.

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