A large number of marine creatures become trapped and killed in "ghost nets". These are pieces of gill nets which have been lost by fishing vessels. A ghost net is a type of plastic that is see through. Another type of ghost net is a drift net. It really isn't a ghost net but when fishermen loose these nets they are also trapping animals.

People call them ghost nets because the animals can't see them in the ocean and they get caught in them. Ghost nets are also dangerous to our reefs because they get caught on reefs and destroy them. In 1998, early December, a ghost net was caught and it had weighed 300 pounds. The place they caught it was close by the reefs. Ghost nets are a continuing problem and occur statewide at almost all of our beaches and bays. The federal fisheries claim there may be 70,000 pieces of ghost nets floating around.