'Ghost net' kills hundreds of sharks and other fish after they get tangled in huge underwater web

HUNDREDS of sharks and other fish have been discovered dead after getting tangled in floating a "ghost net" in the Caribbean.

British fisherman Dominick Martin-Mayes made the horrifying discovery off the Cayman Islands, where he and his friends found the "solid net of decomposing fish and sharks" on Monday afternoon.

Diver and fisherman Dominick Martin-Mayes spotted the 'net of death' a few miles off Grand Cayman

Heartbreaking photos show an Oceanic whitetip shark trapped in the outer web - one of up to 30 sharks believed to be floating in the vast weighted net measuring 40ft deep and 40ft wide.

Martin-Mayes, also a diving instructor, told The Independent: “At first we thought it was a log, but as we got closer we could see it was a net with floats.

“I jumped in the water first and was shocked at what I saw. It took my breath away - the first thing I saw was the juvenile oceanic whitetip [shark].

“I got my buddy who was with me to grab a knife and jump in. We did what we could to free some of the trapped life but most of it was already dead.”

It is believed sharks and dozens of other fish have become snagged in the net and died

Underwater shots show fish swimming around the weighted net, avoiding its clutches

The marine biology graduate thought it "likely" the net had travelled more than a hundred miles from where they first discovered it, four miles north of Grand Cayman.

Martin-Mayes said alongside a mass of sharks there were also jacks, triple tails, big ocean turbots and a variety of pelagic fish caught inside.

The dead and trapped fish created a bloody slick, which attracts sharks and other predators.

He described the sight as “heartbreaking", adding: “The fish come and eat what is there and get caught up in it themselves, so it just snowballs and becomes this gigantic floating net of death.”

Fisherman Dominick Martin-Mayes thought the massive net was a log before they made the devastating discovery

The Cayman Islands Department of Environment has scrambled a mosquito plane and issued a warning to boaters in an effort to recover the net.

Tim Austin, deputy director, told the Cayman Compass: “If we can locate it, we can assess whether we can recover it or tow it somewhere to secure it till it can be dealt with safely.

“We don’t want it to end up in the reef and we need to stop its deadly ghost fishing.”

Martin-Mayes said he hoped his find would draw attention to the dangers of dodgy fishing practices, as well as the dumping of nets and other dangerous rubbish in the ocean that have been highlighted by Blue Planet.

He said: “When you see this sort of thing on television, on documentaries, you think that’s terrible, but when you see it firsthand, it is genuinely heartbreaking.

"The sad thing is it is not likely to be the only one out there.”

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