OneSea

Ghost Fishing includes any discarded, lost, or abandoned fishing gear that continues to fish and kill marine life, and represents a great environmental burden to habitats and their inhabitants, positioning itself as the most lethal form of marine plastic and affecting not only the environmental value but also the general sustainability of fishing. The proposed solution aims to track situations of ghost fishing for the correct treatment and disposal of the same and prevent them from continuing to generate damage to marine ecosystems.

Applied globally, this solution could reduce the amount of marine biodiversity that dies at the hands of ghost fishing and also generate higher levels of awareness for this problem, in addition, allowing to recognize points of concentration of ghost fishing would facilitate to prevent it from occurring and recognize if it is related to illegal activities.

Ghost fishing is a problem that affects hundreds of marine species and their ecosystems worldwide. The discarded fishing gear can become one of the most harmful forms of plastic that reaches the oceans because marine creatures can become entangled in them being drag for an indefinite period. Also, it can drag with them species that are in danger of extinction. Hand in hand with the above, according to a study conducted during 2019, it is estimated that around 640,000 tons of ghost nets end up on the seabed. 

 At a national level, this problem affects Costa Rica because around 1,336, 241 people live in coastal areas, which depend significantly on marine resources for their livelihood. Ghost fishing" affects these communities significantly because it not only generates a great deal of pollution but also kills marketable species and blocks ports. 

Currently, in Costa Rica, no legislation specifically regulates this problem. Due to the little talked about measures to reduce pollution and the effects caused by ghost fishing are considerably scarce, so the need to generate actions to make this problem visible and provide more effective and sustainable solutions for the treatment of "ghost fishing" is born. 

This project proposes the creation of an application which will help to solve ghost fishing by working with fishers and the communities.It helps to track the fishing gear that is left behind on beaches and open seas, producing more pollution in marine ecosystems. This app aims to involve various sectors of society in raising awareness of this little-talked-about problem, which has serious repercussions for the world's oceans. The application will allow users to take photographs and indicate the location of the equipment found, which will make it easier for waste management authorities to locate it and thus ensure its proper treatment. The data obtained will be linked to the project's web page, which will contain information about the problem, statistics on what has been achieved through the application, as well as other relevant information on the subject.

The project aims to help the inhabitants of the country's coastal areas, mainly those who subsist on artisanal fishing. Ghost fishing generates a considerable amount of pollution and damages the ecosystems on which many of these people depend for their daily sustenance. In Costa Rica, to address this problem have been made insufficient measures. It is necessary to search for solutions based on the work in partnership with public actors, such as the Costa Rican Institute of Fisheries and Agriculture, to reduce the impact of ghost fishing in the coastal communities of the country.

The application will be created to help regulate the environmental impact generated by ghost fishing in fishing communities due to the lack of regulation for its proper disposal. The project is expected to help the communities where it will be implemented not only to raise awareness and visibility of this problem and its repercussions but also to generate greater coordination between civil society, the fishing sector, municipal authorities, and the Costa Rican Institute of Fisheries and Agriculture to promote cleaner seas and coasts, bringing greater benefits to these communities.

The project will be developed as a pilot plan in the province of "Puntarenas", specifically "Puerto Caldera" in the canton of "Esparza" which has a population of approximately 28645 inhabitants and where there is an important population sector that depends heavily on the fishing sector. The objective of developing the program in the pilot stage is to help both the local population and the authorities responsible for the fishing sector to understand how the application will work, as well as to help them assimilate the impact of this problem on marine ecosystems.

In Costa Rica and many countries in the region, the problem of ghost fishing has not been sufficiently addressed. The proposed solution would provide an answer and fill the existing gaps in terms of warnings, information, and statistics on ghost fishing in the country, in addition to improving communication with the population. 

It is hoped that the solution will not only remain as a warning system but that its existence will generate the need and pressure necessary for the creation of protocols, regulations, and laws that effectively address this situation.

So far, the main efforts to change the situation of ghost fishing in the country have been momentary. There have been collection campaigns and, in some coastal areas, awareness campaigns. However, these solutions have not transcended and have not generated the necessary impact to reduce or eliminate the origins of ghost fishing. With the proposed solution, we intend to generate a continuous work platform that links the affected people with the solution to the problem, involving the main stakeholders with the solution. Creating not only the platform but also a culture of awareness among the possible causes.

Since this is a pilot plan, the project will serve a target population of approximately 2,000 inhabitants. Once this period is over, the next phase of the application could serve a population of up to 200,000 people, taking into account the coastal population and the tourist population that visits these areas.  

The implementation of the project will be measured based on the objectives of the project, which are as follows: 

 General objective: Create a digital platform with which both people belonging to the fishing sector, as well as residents of communities with access to the sea, tourists, and other actors of society who visit the beaches of Costa Rica, can make visible and raise awareness about the harmful effects that ghost fishing represents for marine ecosystems.  

 Specific objectives: 

1. Creation, development, dissemination, and use of the application. 
2. Collection and reduction of abandoned fishing nets.  
3. Extension of the platform to other countries in the region. 

 Indicators: 

Objective 1:   

• Development of the digital platform. 
• Publicity to promote the use of the digital platform at the national level. 
• The number of monthly visits to the digital platform. 
• Involvement of public institutions in the use of the platform. 
• The number of people in the community who reported ghost fishing through the application. 

Objective 2:  

• The number of fishing gear annually through the platform. 
• The number of fishing gear properly discarded when found through the platform. 
• The number of nets used in returnability projects. 
• The number of community members who report ghost fishing through the application.  
• The number of fisheries sector institutions involved with the project. 

 Objective 3: 

• Implementation of the program in other countries in the region.  
• Number of NGOs involved in the implementation of the project in their countries.

OneSea counts on a multidisciplinary professional team specializing in social work, local organization development, participatory governance, legal accompaniment, marine biology, and sustainable market development.

Our full-time staff counts with 13 members.

Our Part-time staff counts with 7 members.

We achieved noticeable results leveraging OneSea’s experience and technical expertise, which we bring to the table for the execution of this fund, including, among others:

• Facilitation of multi-sectoral processes to support public development and institutional strengthening programs.
• Long track record of establishment and consolidation of partnerships for collaboration with the local beneficiary populations and with the government authorities, as well as with the corporate sector and other organizations.
• Know-how for the development and consolidation of value chains to develop market incentives that will improve the quality of life of the artisanal sector and promote responsible management of the marine resources.
• Scientific knowledge to conduct skills building and support the implementation of responsible practices for the use of marine resources.

The programs and projects that the organization develops are for the benefit of vulnerable persons with the capabilities of working topics of sustainability and environment, and also, seeking clean, healthy, pollution- free oceans and seas. The organization also develops programs and projects focusing on the women of coastal communities, with the implementation of programs that focuses on developing business support skills through a virtual and face to face program, with the goal of inspiring, educating and preparing women entrepreneurs in the country's coastal areas. The focus of this programs is in order to enhance the abilities of women that work in fishery. The programs and projects that the organization develops are for the benefit of vulnerable persons with the capabilities of working topics of sustainability and environment, and seeking clean, healthy, pollution- free oceans and seas.

To carry out the project and due to the scale at which it is intended to be implemented, the organization needs both financial support for the construction of the digital platform and the distribution of the application as well as support with the use of existing databases and knowledge that have had similar applications to be able to realize an effective implementation of implementation at the national level, with the aim of later implementing it in other countries of the region.

The OneSea Foundation aims to achieve clean, healthy and sustainable oceans and seas. The organization has considerable experience in implementing projects that promote more responsible and sustainable fishing, as well as responsible involvement of the various sectors of the population that benefit from fishing. As well as experience in creating legislation to promote more sustainable oceans and more responsible fishermen.