Millions of tons of rubbish are dumped into the ocean each year, posing a significant threat to marine ecosystems and coastal communities.
The impact of marine rubbish pollution is experienced first-hand by the coastal communities that line the shores of the Timor and Arafura seas, shared between Australia and Indonesia. Plastics, abandoned fishing gear, and other debris litter the islands and shorelines, carried there by ocean currents.
Abandoned ghost nets from commercial fishing vessels are among the most lethal and common form of ocean debris. These nets entrap marine life including mammals, sharks, rays, birds, fish and turtles for decades, while they drift through the ocean, lasting hundreds of years before degrading. Beyond trapping marine life, ghost nets also smother and damage vital marine habitats, such as coral reefs and mangroves, which are crucial to the coastal communities of Australia and Indonesia.
To combat this issue and show resilience against the effects of marine rubbish pollution, community organisations are turning trash into treasure. GhostNets Australia, established in 2004, is an alliance of Indigenous communities across Northern Australia that works to protect marine life via ghost net removal, data collection and the creation of ghost net art. Similar ocean clean up initiatives, such as Flotsam and Jetsam in Western Australia, also transform marine debris into artwork, promoting conservation and preservation in areas like the Abrolhos Islands. Organisations like GhostNets Australia (now part of the Ocean Earth Foundation) and Flotsam and Jetsam, share the common goal of protecting the marine environment from plastic waste.
Big Croc, GhostNets Australia
The 'big croc’ ghost net sculpture was crafted by GhostNets Australia, as part of a community project by Western Australian artists Karen Hethy, Cecile Williams and Torres Strait Islander artists. Mapoon Land and Sea Rangers and Napranum Rangers collected the ghost net from a beach in western Cape York, an area part of a ghost net hotspot shared between Australia and Indonesia. Using traditional weaving methods, the artists interlaced the ghost net with ropes and other discarded fishing materials to create the crocodile sculpture.
The creation of artistic sculptures from ghost nets by people from northern Australia’s Indigenous communities aims to raise awareness about the impacts of these nets on marine environments and the communities that depend on them. The display of the crocodile ghost net sculpture at the Western Australian museum, serves as a powerful reminder of Western Australia’s connection with the ocean and the growing threat plastic pollution poses to its finite resources.
Curators
Aurora Philpin | Assistant Curator, Western Australian Museum