Geraldton’s find not quite the full squid

The “Ghost Fishing” that could have fouled Geraldton’s screws. LSBM Matt Jervis sorts through the net. The fish were discarded and the net was stowed for proper disposal in Darwin.

By LCDR Terry Morrison
While patrolling the Australian Fishing Zone on June 8 , HMAS Geraldton (LCDR Terry Morrison) stopped in the water to conduct a main machinery room damage control exercise (DCEX). These are common exercises to drill fire fighting procedures and this time Geraldton was in the vicinity of Margaret Harries Bank to the north of Darwin.

Cleaning up after the exercise one junior sailor (to remain anonymous) reported that a Giant Squid was just below the keel. The word got around and speculation as to whether one of these animals had ever been found alive was also heard.

When the Senior Technical Officer saw the object he said that it looked more like a fishing net, so the CO ordered an attempt to recover the net with a grappling hook.

This was done and it was discovered that the “Giant Squid” was actually a 15 metre length of dense fishing net. It was assessed that during the DCEX Geraldton drifted over the net and it became fixed on either a sacrificial anode or the electro-magnetic log.

Although the sailor reporting the “Giant Squid” did receive some friendly banter, his report most probably prevented the net from getting wrapped around Geraldton’s screws and he received full praise from the command for his efforts.
These discarded fishing nets are known as “Ghost Fishing” and are the cause of death of many species of fish and other aquatic species like turtles throughout the world. Geraldton discarded the dead fish, but retained the net for proper disposal on return to Darwin.

Removing these ghost fishing nets from our environment is only one of the many tasks the patrol boats conduct in our northern waters.

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