Wannapa said the nets, which were 2,750 sq m (29,601 sq ft) in size, had been in the area around Koh Losin, about 72km (45 miles) off the coast of Thailand's southern Pattani province, for a month and a half. Wannapa estimated these nets could cost over a million baht ($32,000).
“This one was not the biggest. Every year we remove nets like this here,” said Wannapa.
Wannapa and other divers spend a lot of time investigating reports of fishing nets choking reefs in Thai waters, making at least five removal expeditions a year at their own expense.
After the nets were removed on Sunday — from depths ranging from 13m to 26m — about 500 sq m of bleached reef was discovered.
The reef is expected to recover in two to three months.
About 640,000 tonnes of fishing nets end up in the ocean globally every year, becoming ghost gear, according to the United Nations.