I'm still finding it hard to believe that ghost nets seem to be everywhere at the moment and it breaks my heart to see so much of our beautiful ocean marine life tangled up in them.
Monofilament net is highly invisible underwater, hugely dangerous to anything that finds it's way into it and can be a nightmare to cut.
One of my regular visitors to my studio came to me. on Christmas Eve distraught that he had found this net up by The Grand Hotel and. had tried to cut it but it was stuck on the end of a groyne. I decided to come back inbetween night shifts from the New Forest through the snow and try my best to cut it free.
I had to wait until low tide which meant that I was working in complete darkness and had 4 different instruments with me. I will forever be grateful to the team of Sea Shepherd UK and Ghost Diving UK who talked me through it and were there for me whilst I completed the task to get rid of it. It was freezing, my boots were ruined as was my sea snorkelling jacket but that's a small price to pay to know that our wildlife is safe from harm.
Please if anyone does find a ghost net washed up on our shores, please get in touch with the brilliant team at Sea Shepherd UK for advice and a volunteer will come and help if I'm not around.
And yes, I did wear my favourite hoodie to keep me snug made by Fourth Element too.
