From Chile to Greece, ‘ghost gear’ from fish farms haunts the seas

Each year since 2021, Pia Reveco and her husband have set sail from Puerto Montt to spend the Chilean summers navigating Patagonia aboard their sailboat. Last year, they traveled along the fjords and mountains of the Golfo de Penas; three years ago, they reached Laguna San Rafael National Park, where a glacier resembling an ice tongue meets the sea. This summer, they opted instead for a shorter trip to the Guaitecas archipelago, a group of sparse islands in the Aysén region known for its rich biodiversity. During these journeys, they report frequently coming across fish farms, mostly salmoneras, Spanish for salmon farms. On their most recent expedition, which ran from December to March, Reveco posted on X about at least 23 sites that appeared to her abandoned or in bad condition, with corr