Discarded or lost nets of unknown origins are wreaking havoc on Hawaii's marine life and coral reefs. The nets that drift along the Pacific's currents, dragging the remains of whatever sea life comes into their path, have been given the name "ghost nets."

A team from Hawaii Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris Research is performing in-depth analysis on recovered ghost nets in an attempt to trace them back to their fisheries and manufacturers.

Hawaii Pacific University's Center for Marine Debris Research co-director, Jennifer Lynch, is supervising the study. Lynch is also a research biologist with the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

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Much of the study takes place in an open-air structure called the "Net Shed," where the team works through several tons of tangled fishing nets collected from three different locations: the main Hawaiian Islands, the fishing grounds of the Hawaii longline tuna fleet that often encounters abandoned nets and the coast of the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii Pacific University partnered with Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project to bring netting back to the Net Shed from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, part of the Papahanaumokuakea National Marine Monument.

“It’s about five tons inside the ‘Net Shed’ and probably three tons outside, waiting for analysis,” Lynch told Hawaii News Now. In total, the Center for Marine Debris Research has received 21 tons worth of netting.

The researchers analyze about 70 different features of each piece of net, including its polymer types, how the net is twisted or knotted, how many strands it has, the twine diameter and mesh stretch size to try to determine its origins, the Associated Press reported. The information is then entered into a database, which may help discover patterns that could lead to nets' manufacturers and eventually individual fisheries or countries of origin.

Past efforts to identify nets' origins have proven difficult. Debris washes up from countries all over the world, and the nets have few unique identifying features. But Lynch says even failure holds some hope.

“We’re going to have a very challenging time ... trying to identify it back to its source," Lynch said. “And if we fail, ... that’s going to be increased evidence for policymakers to see the importance of gear marking and potentially bring those kinds of regulations to the front.”

Many nets are believed to be lost accidentally, but fishermen may occasionally chuck nets into the sea to avoid prosecution when fishing illegally. Some may cut and discard portions of damaged nets instead of toting them to shore.

“These nets bulldoze over our reefs before they hit shore,” Drew McWhirter, a graduate student at Hawaii Pacific University and one of the study’s lead researchers, told the AP. “They leave a path of destruction, pulling coral heads out, and can cause a lot of ecological damage.”

The crew has identified debris from all corners of the Pacific, including Asian countries and the U.S. West Coast. The AP reported that many ghost nets originate from developing nations with fewer fishing regulations. These countries may buy or manufacture low-quality nets that could easily break into the sea and are also less likely to be marked and identifiable.

Gear marking can help identify the source of ghost nets and other discarded or lost materials at sea. Some marking even includes real-time positioning information, which aids in retrieval of lost gear and remote sensing analysis.

Jonathan Moore, principal assistant secretary of the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs at the U.S. State Department opined last year at a Global Ghost Gear Initiative event that "Certainly, gear-marking guidelines and regulations should be a central pillar of all responsible fisheries management operations."

Moore also said, "Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, which is sometimes associated with ghost gear, is among the greatest threats to the sustainable use of our shared ocean resource."

Click through the slideshow above to see the researchers at work identifying ghost nets.

The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.