January 15, 2015 — Long after commercial fishers have pulled into dock, their lost and abandoned gear continues fishing – threatening marine wildlife and habitats around the world. Some call it “ghost fishing."
A recent NOAA study found that abandoned and lost fishing gear has “persistent and pervasive” impacts on U.S. waters. It also found that these impacts are largely reversible.
A good case study is the recovery of derelict crab pots on the Washington coast, a comprehensive effort involving Tribal and non-tribal commercial fishers, scientists, agencies and organizations like The Nature Conservancy.
The bottom line: collaborating on crab pot removal benefits both fish and fishers.
The Ghosts of Crab Pots
The Dungeness crab is one of the most important fisheries in Washington, with an average of 14 million pounds of the crustaceans harvested annually.
The crabs are captured in wire traps, called crab pots. About 90,000 to 100,000 of these pots are set in Washington waters annually.
Crab pots are not inexpensive; each one costs about $225. Still, heavy winds and other harsh conditions mean that about 10 percent of the pots are lost each year.
That’s a lot of pots in the water. Still fishing.
There are the direct impacts: crabs and other wildlife continue to be caught. As they die, the traps become what NOAA calls “self-baiting” – continually attracting new predators until the trap is buried.
Read the full story from Cool Green Science – The Nature Conservancy Blog