New study reveals 'staggering' scale of lost fishing gear drifting in Earth's oceans

Lost nets, lines and hooks trap wildlife for years as they float in the ocean, sink to the bottom or are washed ashoreFollow our live blog for the latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastEnough commercial fishing line is left in the ocean each year to stretch to the moon and back, according to the most comprehensive study ever completed of lost fishing equipment.The staggering amounts of lost gear, which includes 25 million pots and traps and 14 billion hooks, was likely having deadly consequences for marine life, one of the study's authors said.Sign up for our free morning newsletter and afternoon email to get your daily news roundup78,000 sq km (30,000 sq miles) of purse seine nets and gillnets215 sq km of bottom trawl nets740,000 km (46,000 miles) of main long lines15.5 million km (9.6m miles) of branch lines13 billion longline hooks25 million traps and pots Continue reading...