DP World is working with Deniz Yaşamını Koruma Derneği (Türkiye’s Marine Life Conservation Society) to remove ghost nets from the Sea of Marmara and give the recovered material a second life. Ghost nets can take up to 200 years to degrade, and left under the waves, they continue to trap and kill marine life, from sharks and turtles to much smaller organisms, long after they have been lost or abandoned.
The project aims to remove more than 1,000 m² of nets from the seabed around the Princes’ Islands, or about 800 kg of material.
The Deniz Yaşamını Koruma Derneği team tracks down abandoned nets using reports, technology, sea charts and local knowledge before carefully retrieving them from the seabed. The weight, size and location of each net are recorded, helping to build a clearer picture of where lost fishing gear has accumulated.
The work is focused in particular on deeper waters around Istanbul and the Princes’ Islands. Some of the nets have been recovered from more than 50 meters below the surface, including one found at a depth of 55 meters around the Princes’ Islands.
During one recovery operation, the team also found three ray egg cases among the material brought to the surface. The egg cases were returned to the sea as soon as they were discovered.
Once back on land, the nets begin their transformation. They are processed into recycled plastic granules and turned into custom-designed sunglasses, giving material that once threatened marine life new, longer-lasting use. Each pair has its own story. The coordinates and depth where the original net was found are stamped inside the frames, creating a direct link back to the waters it came from.
Not all the recovered material will become sunglasses. DP World is also working with SUSAKO, the Sustainable Art Women’s Cooperative (Sürdürülebilir Sanat Kadın Kooperatifi). Together, they will run workshops where members of the public can turn ghost-net plastic into jewelery, showing how something once considered waste can be repurposed, while supporting women’s participation in the economy.
The project will also work with fishing communities to raise awareness of ghost nets and help prevent fishing gear from being lost or abandoned in the first place.