Ghost-Gear Recovery Sweep — North Pacific Gyre

Summary

Over a three-day sweep through the North Pacific gyre's accumulation zone, the tender MV Gyre Keeper — directed by Petrel Wing aerial spotting and an Argus Swarm — recovered roughly 58 tonnes of derelict ghost gear: abandoned driftnet, trap lines, and float strings that drift and keep fishing untended for years. A share of the recovered netting carried float markings traceable to the Aurelia Drift-Net Cooperative, tying abandoned gear back to a named operator. Animals found alive in the gear were released; the haul was weighed, sorted, and logged as evidence. No injuries; this was a recovery operation, with no hull to interdict.

Intelligence Picture

NEREID's drift model had concentrated months of lost and abandoned gear into a forecastable accumulation band within the gyre. Petrel Wing surveys confirmed dense surface and just-subsurface gear along the predicted convergence — a standing mortality sink, and an evidentiary opportunity wherever markings survived.

• Dense ghost-gear accumulation band predicted by the NEREID drift model and confirmed by aerial survey.
• Mixed derelict gear: monofilament driftnet, trap lines, and float strings, much of it still actively entangling.
• A fraction of netting bearing float markings consistent with the Aurelia Drift-Net Cooperative.
• Entanglement mortality assessed Severe by NEREID; objective set at Disrupt — recover, release, weigh, log.

Execution

Conducted under Disrupt-tier rules: recover gear, release life, log everything. No hull present to interdict. Narrative log, condensed:

1. Spotting (Day 1). Petrel Wing flew the accumulation band and tasked Gyre Keeper onto the densest concentrations; the Argus Swarm mapped each gear mass and checked for entangled animals before recovery.
2. Live release (continuous). Animals found alive in the gear — turtles, fish, and seabirds — were freed at the surface by the swarm and crew before the gear was hauled, each release logged.
3. Recovery to deck (Days 1–3). Gyre Keeper's recovery rig hauled the derelict gear aboard in sections, sorting net, line, and float as it came; each tagged mass was weighed into the manifest.
4. Marking capture (continuous). Float and net markings were photographed before sorting; sections bearing identifiable Aurelia markings were bagged separately to chain-of-custody as attributable evidence.
5. Close-out (Day 3). The full haul was weighed, manifested, and sealed; Gyre Keeper cleared the band for processing ashore. No injuries throughout.

Outcome & Evidence

The weighed and manifested haul, with separately bagged marked sections, was logged as GG-2091-0441 and sealed to Evidence & Custody; the Aurelia-marked fraction is attributable evidence for the standing exposure file. Released animals were assessed against the Universal Marine Registry: a sea turtle (AE-SPX-0010) and a cetacean of the corridor (AE-SPX-0011) records were annotated with release and condition notes.

Follow-on

• Seal package GG-2091-0441; attach the Aurelia-marked fraction to the Aurelia Drift-Net Cooperative dossier and the standing exposure file.
• Schedule a recurring seasonal gyre sweep on the NEREID drift-model forecast.
• Route the recovered material to documented disposal/recycling; preserve markings before destruction.
• Annotate affected registry records (AE-SPX-0010, 0011) with release and condition notes.