Fishing rubbish found washed up on remote Cook Islands' Suwarrow Atoll

Members of the Cook Islands environmental group, Te Ipukarea Society, were appalled by the rubbish they found on a recent trip to isolated Suwarrow Atoll.

The northern Cooks island is a national park, a bird sanctuary and usually the only human presence there is two caretakers.

Te Ipukarea Society's Kelvin Passfield said they had gone to Suwarrow to continue a rat eradication programme and to monitor the birds that breed on the atoll.

But he said they were stunned at the quantity of abandoned fishing equipment that had washed up on the island, especially discarded fish aggregating devices.

"We got over 50 of those we found washed up on various beaches around the lagoon. On top of that there were the beacons that go with them, their locator beacons - for some of them, not all of them.

"And also a lot of long line fishing floats, abandoned old long lines and shark clips.

He said his organisation had long called for fishing operators to stop using FADs because of their destructive impact on sealife, but he said at the very least they should not abandon the devices in the ocean.

"We would like to see the Western and Central Pacific Fisheries Commission [the Tuna Commission] put more pressure on the fishing nations and the fishing companies to clean up their act by not leaving these FADs to drift around.

"Once they are finished with them they should collect them. They shouldn't leave them to just be marine litter which is what they are.