Fish Net Zero

12/06/2026

THE BIGGEST NET WE’VE EVER RECOVERED TO DATE
Swipe to see the sheer scale of what we’re fighting. The photos show the largest net we have ever pulled up with just one team of 3 divers.

Why This Matters:
Left on the seabed, ghost gear like this doesn’t stop fishing. It’s a silent, invisible killer, relentlessly trapping, suffocating, and destroying our marine wildlife. Pulling this monster out means giving countless sea creatures a fighting chance.

What’s Next?
Zero Landfill: We’re washing it down to be fully recycled with Ecotribo.

Video Dropping Soon: Footage of this recovery is on the way. You’ll want to see how the team and our vessel, Banshee, pulled this off. Stay tuned and follow our account!

Want to join the crew? If you’re a qualified UK diver (SDI Rescue Diver / Sports Diver+ with 100+ coastal dives), we need you. Hit the link in our bio to apply via our quick and easy form!

08/06/2026

Banshee Back on the Hunt!

After her successful maiden recovery mission, Banshee was back in action on Saturday following reports of a large ghost in the Clyde.

From the outset, we knew this wasn’t going to be a one-and-done recovery. The objective of this first dive was to survey the site, assess the scale of the problem, and recover any sections that could be safely lifted.

Divers Craig, Kris and Bob got to work, successfully recovering two sections of net along with additional rope. Unfortunately, deteriorating visibility brought the dive to an early close, but not before we had gathered the information needed to plan the next phase of the operation.

The recovered net was hauled aboard Banshee, where crew member Ali and skipper Lu immediately got to work freeing several live crabs trapped within it. These animals would almost certainly have died had the net remained on the seabed.

This is the tragic reality of ALDFG (Abandoned, Lost and Discarded Fishing Gear). Long after being lost, nets and ropes continue to fish indiscriminately, trapping and killing marine life in a never-ending cycle.

Back ashore, the net was thoroughly washed and inspected. Even then, more live crabs were discovered hidden amongst the mesh and were carefully returned to the sea.

The good news is that this recovered gear won’t be heading to landfill. We already have plans in place to recycle the nets collected throughout the season, ensuring that today’s ghost gear can become tomorrow’s resource rather than tomorrow’s waste.

Despite the challenging conditions, it was a hugely productive day. We removed a significant amount of ghost gear, rescued marine life, and once again put Banshee through her paces.

The project is far from finished, and we’ll be returning to continue the recovery. Stay tuned for updates as we tackle what is shaping up to be one of our largest ghost gear removals yet.

08/06/2026

Debris removed from Coney beach: 49.9 KG
Debris removed from Coney this year: 775.4 Kg
7th June 2026 - 14 volunteers & 4 FNZ Crew

Perfect timing today…just a splash of rain as we approached the beach and then gradually the sun came out as we cleaned …. Even the wind had died down a tad from yesterday, so it was the perfect time to give Coney some TLC.

However, it really was a game of hide and seek. The wind over the last couple of days had buried everything, so on the surface the beach looked spotless, even our regular seaweed patches were absent. Finding the rubbish was a case of scanning the sand for the tiniest fragment and then digging it out. I must lead a sad life as I was excited to see if I could guess what lay beneath. Maybe I should get out more 😊

It was the same on the strand line as the tide came in…literally hundreds of little moon jellyfish were being washed in…so spotting the shiny plastic bits around the shiny jellyfish was also a challenge.

We are picking up so many fag butts…at least a hundred today …which, if had been left for the tide to remove, over 5000 litres of water would have been contaminated alone…that’s roughly 32 bathtubs of toxic pollutants from a jars worth of discarded butts…frightening isn’t it!

I must apologise for being so late with our beach reports recently and I have a bit of a backlog…so I’ll be putting them out over the coming days…so many of you have helped us, I’m so sorry to be so late.

Check our Fish Net Zero page on FB and Insta for our beach clean or have a look in the Pantri-Box window for our poster. Oh and those lovely folk at Grow & Grind are giving a generous discount to anyone wearing one of our dashing high-viz vests after the clean. Thank you also to Keep Wales Tidy for the bags and BCBC for taking it all away for separating and recycling

Our next regular beach clean is on Sunday June 21st at 10am

Also look out for our collaboration cleans with the Porthcawl Wombles, Porthcawl Cleaner Seas and Surfers Against Sewage…. its fireworks season soon so we’ll all be out cleaning up after every one of them…would be fab if you could join us.

In the meantime, if you find any large ghost nets or fishing debris on the beach let us know and we’ll be there to remove it and have it recycled into something more humane.

It’s for their Ocean!

05/06/2026

Maiden voyage for the NEW Banshee? Nailed it!

If you think you’re seeing double, you’re not. We officially retired our first RIB (also called Banshee) and levelled up to this absolute weapon: a 7.5m, fully commercially coded Island RIB—more space, longer range, and built for heavy lifting.

The mission? Put her through her paces on her first-ever real-world ghost gear recovery. The classroom? A well-known wreck in the Clyde.

The video might be a bit rough-and-ready (turns out when everyone is busy diving and skippering, there’s no one left to play Hollywood director), but the results speak for themselves:
1 ghost creel pot recovered.
50 meters of deadly rope stripped from the seabed.
Zero marine life trapped on this wreck tonight.

Did you know? “Ghost gear” (ALDFG) isn’t just trash—it’s a silent killer. Abandoned nets and pots can keep “fishing” on autopilot for decades, trapping everything from crabs to seabirds.

The crew got to learn her handling and she passed the test with flying colours, and Inverkip Marina has one less hazard on its doorstep.

But this was just the warm-up.
The team is heading back out this weekend for what is tracking to be our biggest recovery project to date. Banshee is about to get a proper workout.

Drop a message in the comments to wish the crew luck for the weekend!

ScubaDivingScotland Inverkip OceanCleanUp ALDFG ScubaLife CommercialRIB MaidenVoyage

27/05/2026

What a beauty of a day for our beach clean on the Machars in Southwest Scotland. We tackled an area at Philip & Mary point near Port William. On the surface it didn’t look bad but delving in amongst the tide line there was all sorts notably a huge amount of zip ties all in one patch. 8 people collected 52kg in one hour, no mean feat considering it was lots of small stuff.

As always we thank for the loan of the Litterpickers and for their ongoing support, for their generous sponsorship and to for the bin bags and rubbish collection and the members of public who show up all weathers 🙏✊

15/05/2026

🌿 𝕎𝕀𝕃𝔻 𝕃𝕆𝕎𝔼𝕊𝕋𝕆𝔽𝕋 is happening tomorrow! 🌿

Join us as we celebrate nature, community, and all things wild right here in Lowestoft. From activities and stalls to opportunities to connect with local projects, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

📅 Tomorrow
📍 London Road North, Marina Theatre, Lowestoft Library

Come along, bring your friends and family, and be part of a day dedicated to appreciating and protecting our natural environment 🌍💚
Fish Net Zero will be there alongside Litter Free Lowestoft Re-Utilise Community Repaint & Scrap Store Greener Growth Met Office Uncle Sid's Zero Waste Store with all sorts of activities and information

👉 https://lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk/event/wild-lowestoft/

🌿 Wild Lowestoft is happening tomorrow! 🌿

Join us as we celebrate nature, community, and all things wild right here in Lowestoft. From activities and stalls to opportunities to connect with local projects, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

📅 Tomorrow
📍 London Road North, Marina Theatre, Lowestoft Library

Come along, bring your friends and family, and be part of a day dedicated to appreciating and protecting our natural environment 🌍💚

We can’t wait to see you there!

👉 https://lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk/event/wild-lowestoft/

14/05/2026

Fish Net Zero will be a part of 𝕎𝕀𝕃𝔻 𝕃𝕆𝕎𝔼𝕊𝕋𝕆𝔽𝕋, this Saturday... an event, organised by Lowestoft Town Council to inspire passers-by.

It will be a full day of activities, information and exhibits for everyone to enjoy, inclusive for all the family, and everyone of all ages!!
Stall holders, outreach, coming together to champion how we can all make a difference for our environment, our World around us, and the children's future. Midst all the stands and stalls alongside us, will be (to Tag but a few!) Re-Utilise Community Repaint & Scrap Store ~ Met Office ~ Uncle Sid's Zero Waste Store ~ Greener Growth ~ Litter Free Lowestoft
https://lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk/event/wild-lowestoft/

🎉 STALLHOLDER REVEAL for Wild Lowestoft! 🎉

It's time for our final stallholder reveal ahead of Wild Lowestoft taking place on Saturday 16 May.

🏫 Lowestoft Town Hall Project will be bringing an eco-trail and crafts for you to enjoy (make sure you watch their latest video to see the craft!)

🏖 Fish Net Zero will be promoting the work they do to tackle ghost gear and marine debris in UK waters and on UK Beaches

🌱 East Coast College will be bringing some activities and information about the climate initiatives they champion.

It's looking like a full day of activities, information and exhibits for everyone to enjoy so make sure you're in London Road North and take part!

All this and more as we come together to champion our environment 👉 https://lowestofttowncouncil.gov.uk/event/wild-lowestoft/

11/05/2026

Two days on board MV Nemesis in Grimsby, and five crew are now sharper, safer, and ready to save marine wildlife.

After a long winter lay‑off, while works were completed to get Nemesis up to standard, we took the opportunity this weekend to get Nemesis back into the North Sea in proper rough conditions for sea trials and real-world drills.

Across the weekend, we trained Sarah, Louise, Rhys, Jack and Jonny, covering our full crew training syllabus plus Oxygen Administration and additional practical systems work, all delivered in line with our Safety Management System and supporting our MCA Work Boat Code (Edition 3) manning requirements.

This wasn’t classroom theory. It was hands-on and built around the scenarios that matter:
● Man Over Board prevention and recovery practice
● Emergency fire drills
● Fire/systems shut‑offs and critical safety procedures
● Emergency Steering Drills
● Deck operations and safe working routines
● Diver support readiness and first-response capability

Training was led by the vessel’s Master, Muzzy, alongside one of our lead divers, Mark Powell. In addition to this internal training, all our crew are formally qualified in Sea Survival and Firefighting.

These are the weekends that build a crew everyone can trust and a vessel we can take to sea to save marine wildlife with confidence.

If you would like to join our volunteer crew, please drop us a DM.