http://usresponserestoration.wordpress.com/2014/10/30/how-ghost-fishing-is-haunting-our-ocean/

How Ghost Fishing Is Haunting Our Ocean

October 30, 2014 by Office of Response and Restoration

No, ghost fishing has nothing to do with ghostbusters flicking fishing
rods from a boat.

But what is ghost fishing? It?s a not-at-all-supernatural phenomenon
that occurs when lost or discarded fishing gear remains in the ocean and
continues doing what it was made to do: catch fish. These nets and traps
haunt the many types of marine life unlucky enough to become snared in
them. That includes species of turtles, fish, sharks, lobsters, crabs,
seabirds, and marine mammals.

Fortunately, the NOAA Marine Debris Program isn?t scared off by a few
fishing nets that haven?t moved on from the underwater world. For
example, through the Fishing for Energy partnership, NOAA is funding
projects to study and test ways to keep fishers from losing their gear
in the first place and lower the impacts lost gear has on marine life
and their homes.