• COMMERCIAL
    • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOMOTIVE
    • TOURISM
    • OUTDOORS
  • EDITORIAL
    • Making Mezcal for Serviette Magazine
    • Oyster Expeditions for ON Running
    • Myia Antone for BESIDE Magazine
    • Moonshine Kingdom for Montecristo Magazine
    • Water Crisis for The Narwhal
    • Oyster Island Retreat for NUVO Magazine
    • Dakota Bear Sanctuary for The Narwhal
    • Ghost Nets
  • PORTRAITS
  • PERSONAL
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • STORIES
  • Menu

Shayd Johnson | Canadian photographer specializing in travel, editorial & lifestyle photography.

  • COMMERCIAL
    • LIFESTYLE
    • AUTOMOTIVE
    • TOURISM
    • OUTDOORS
  • EDITORIAL
    • Making Mezcal for Serviette Magazine
    • Oyster Expeditions for ON Running
    • Myia Antone for BESIDE Magazine
    • Moonshine Kingdom for Montecristo Magazine
    • Water Crisis for The Narwhal
    • Oyster Island Retreat for NUVO Magazine
    • Dakota Bear Sanctuary for The Narwhal
    • Ghost Nets
  • PORTRAITS
  • PERSONAL
  • ABOUT
  • CONTACT
  • STORIES
1B5A2441.jpg

"Ghost Nets" of the Salish Sea

October 11, 2018 in Photo Journalism, Behind The Scenes, Editorial

When I first met Bourton, I was wandering around with my camera on the docks of the Maritime Museum in Vancouver. I saw a guy dressed in overalls sanding an old wooden tug boat. It had me curious, so I walked up and said hello and asked if I could take a few photos, and since that day we’ve become great friends. Not only does ‘Burt’ own a 1950’s wooden tug boat named the Ella Mackenzie, he is also a commercial diver with a passion for conservation, founding a non-profit called the Emerald Sea Protection Society who’s mission is simple, identify lost fishing gear and marine debris and clean it up… Although the solution for this problem proves itself to be more complicated than first imagined.

Flash-forward a year of many beers, joints and countless days on the water and our plan to create a documentary on the issue of lost fishing nets in the Salish Sea begins to take light… We filmed a small teaser over a week last summer in the gulf islands to drum up some support and a few weeks ago with some funding we were able to film a full-length documentary which will be aired on national television in the coming year.

So, what is a “ghost net”?

A fishing net that has been lost at sea, often times caught on a reef, or simply just bad fishing conditions leading to an accident. These nets have been lost from years of fishing along the coast, and with no accountability, they’ve been left at the bottom of the ocean to continually fish, and they don’t just fish target species down there, they fish everything from small fish, to large mammals, creating a never-ending cycle and causing huge habitat loss and economic downfalls.

Compared to the hot topic of ocean plastics, ghost nets are basically an invisible issue. They are mostly found beneath the water along with other marine debris and human waste. It really became apparent when we dove under a marina, in a cute harbour on Saltspring Island… below the marina in a short dive we found piles of debris including 2 marine batteries, a bicycle, tires, shopping carts, plastic crates and more… when we pulled up a few pieces and placed them on the dock, people were shocked that these things were lingering just below the surface of the water… for Bourton, it’s not a surprise, he sees these types of things constantly as a commercial diver… sparking him to take action.

During the filming, we managed to recover a full gill net in the Great Bear Rainforest as well as large chunks of a purse seine net off the coast of Pender Island. Both of these tasks proved to be very difficult… the gill net was only visible at low tide, and with huge tidal swings, we had a very limited time to hack it into pieces and bag it up. It took 2 days and a few people to tackle that net, leaving the crew with bloody hands from cuts and scrapes. The second net off Pender Island was technical, involving 2 vessels, a team of divers and support crew, a ROV and a limited window of time. After multiple dives to over 100 feet in a strong current, the team was only able to recover a portion of the net that spans over the length of a football field and weighs a few tonnes.

The Emerald Sea Protection Society is working hard to pull together more resources, funding and support to survey the Salish Sea for nets, and plan out the recovery, stay tuned as we cut together a full-length documentary on the project.

1B5A2724.jpg
1B5A2766.jpg
1B5A2837.jpg
1B5A2899.jpg
1B5A2938.jpg
1B5A2887.jpg


For more info, visit the Emerald Sea Protection Society and please consider making a donation!
www.emeraldseasociety.ca

Tags: salish sea, conservation bc, environmental cleanup bc, vice canada, vice magazine, beside magazine, westcoast, conservation effort ocean, ocean plastics, ocean cleanup, salish sea fishing, fishing nets, bureo, patagonia, non profit work, documentary, underwater cleanup, underwater waste, ghost nets, lost fishing nets
Prev / Next

For Everything Else

Not everything can fit in a portfolio, but here are some posts worth highlighting.


Featured Posts

Featured
Mar 17, 2025
Photo Series : House Boats of Yellowknife
Mar 17, 2025
Mar 17, 2025
Mar 29, 2021
The art of making mezcal
Mar 29, 2021
Mar 29, 2021
Mar 23, 2021
2 weeks in Japan
Mar 23, 2021
Mar 23, 2021
Apr 22, 2020
72 Hours in Tofino with Huckberry
Apr 22, 2020
Apr 22, 2020
Jan 4, 2020
Travel : The other side of Cancun
Jan 4, 2020
Jan 4, 2020
Dec 13, 2019
Mercedes-Benz AMG E-class wagon shoot
Dec 13, 2019
Dec 13, 2019
Dec 10, 2019
Altitude Sports X Mountain Hardware
Dec 10, 2019
Dec 10, 2019
Nov 27, 2019
NYC
Nov 27, 2019
Nov 27, 2019
Oct 2, 2019
TINCUP Whiskey Commercial
Oct 2, 2019
Oct 2, 2019
Dec 28, 2018
Shoot film, stay broke.
Dec 28, 2018
Dec 28, 2018