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📰 The quick summary: More than 20 Indigenous ranger groups across northern Australia are removing tons of deadly ghost nets from remote coastlines, backed by AU$25 million in new government funding, helping protect endangered turtles, dugongs, and sharks.
📈 One key stat: Ghost nets reaching Australia’s northern shores catch between 4,000 and 14,000 turtles a year, many of them endangered green and hawksbill turtles, making removal efforts critical for the survival of these species.
💬 One key quote: “Marine debris keeps coming back with the tides, but our Rangers keep coming back too. They don’t give up on Country,” said Douglas Munyarryun, a Yolŋu Traditional Owner.

1️⃣ The big picture: Abandoned fishing nets, known as ghost nets, drift from Southeast Asian fisheries on ocean currents into Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria, where they entangle and kill turtles, dugongs, sharks, and other marine life long after being lost at sea. More than 20 Indigenous ranger groups across northern Australia’s most remote coastlines are on the front lines of removing this debris, covering hundreds of kilometers of shoreline that few others can access. For Traditional Owners, protecting this country goes far beyond environmental cleanup as it is deeply tied to culture, identity, and the health of their communities. New technology like drones equipped with AI is helping rangers find nets far faster than before, with one team pulling out 15 nets in a single four-hour stretch compared to a previous average of three per day. In December 2025, the Australian government committed AU$25 million over four years to keep the cleanups running and expand them, alongside a regional prevention effort targeting the source of the problem.

2️⃣ Why is this good news: For the first time, a serious long-term funding commitment of AU$25 million over four years gives Indigenous ranger groups the stability they need to keep protecting some of Australia’s most ecologically and culturally significant coastlines. Drone and AI technology now lets rangers locate ghost nets up to five times faster, dramatically increasing the amount of debris they can remove in a single outing. Beyond cleanup, AU$4.5 million is going toward prevention through a regional partnership among Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste, with the goal of stopping ghost gear from entering the ocean in the first place by 2030. This approach centers Traditional Owners as the primary stewards of their own coastlines, recognizing that Indigenous-led conservation is one of the most effective models for protecting biodiversity. A successful reduction in ghost gear reaching these shores could have ripple effects across the broader Indo-Pacific, protecting shared marine ecosystems and the communities that depend on them.

3️⃣ What’s next: The regional partnership among Australia, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, and Timor-Leste aims to set up monitoring systems to track where gear is lost before it drifts and create on-shore handover points for worn-out nets. Rangers and advocates are pushing for a complete end to ghost gear from international sources and recreational fishing on northern Australian beaches by 2030. One key remaining challenge is finding a scalable solution for the mountains of collected nets, with grant applications underway to fund shredders that could turn the plastic into something reusable.

Read the full story here: Mongabay – Indigenous rangers pull killer ‘ghost nets’ from Australia’s northern coast