A gillnet is an illegal fishing device used by the poachers known as the Bandit 6. Gillnets are a mile long and can kill any wildlife that gets stuck in it's barbs. The CCAMLR Treaty of 1990 bans gillnets and gillnet fishing but it is still used by rouge states in pirate fishing practices known as Illegal Unreported and Unregulated Fishing.
Uses
Gillnets are used to bring in large schools of fish and are a cheap alternative to trawling. Gillnets contain two long lines with lead floats and buoys at each end. When set barbs which are embedded in the rope hook onto the fish until it becomes trapped making escape impossible. Since 1990 Gillnets are banned because they can kill wildlife and sometimes they are abandoned by their crews.
Becoming a Ghost
If a gillnet is abandoned or if it is lost it will become a ghost. Ghost Fishing is the leading cause of death of 90% of the worlds wildlife and a leading concern to groups like Sea Shepherd. Sea Shepherd's goal is to find any gillnet left at sea and haul it aboard and destroy it releasing any wildlife trapped in it and sending the remains of the net to Interpol to used a evidence.
Recovery
All Sea Shepherd ships are fitted with reels on the stern and a power winch to pull the lines on board. In 2014 Sam Simon received a reel as part of its refit following Operation Relentless and the Bob Barker had it's reel replaced after the deck was destroyed in 2013 during Operation Zero Tolerance. To recover a gillnet Sea Shepherd throws hooks into the water to pull the net onto the drum then the wench is started to pull it out of the water. Once the net is on board Sea Shepherd cuts it to remove any wildlife from it and returns them to the sea. Any dead wildlife found is frozen and placed in coolers until the ship docks then it will be handed to Interpol for disposal. In 2015 Sea Shepherd collected 4 gillnets all of them left by the poaching vessel Thunder as it ran from them in the 110 day manhunt.