New Delhi, April 20 -- In a bid to combat escalating plastic pollution in the Ganga, a government-funded study has proposed a "cash-for-nets" scheme aimed at incentivising fishers to return worn-out or abandoned fishing nets.
These abandoned, lost or discarded synthetic nets -- referred to as "ghost gear" -- pose a severe, long-term threat to aquatic ecosystems.
Conducted over five years by the Wildlife Institute of India, the study forms part of the long-term conservation initiative -- Planning and Management for Aquatic Species Conservation and Maintenance of Ecosystem Services in the Ganga River Basin for a Clean Ganga.
Based on extensive riverine and socioeconomic surveys, the study recorded 72 incidents of aquatic species becoming e...