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What’s the solution to ghost fishing gear polluting oceans?

January 31, 2023 — Industrial fishing has been in hot water with the public for the last few years, with popular documentaries and exposés pointing out the devastating impacts of poor stewardship on the ocean. This outrage isn’t unfounded: In addition to their role in overfishing, industrial fishing fleets leave a huge amount of waste in the ocean, including damaged or lost fishing gear that boats leave behind in their rush to fish. The lost gear clutters the oceans, making them less hospitable to life, and more problematic for other fishermen to use. This so-called “ghost gear” can be found anywhere that fishing boats operate and can drift to other areas. In places where spiraling currents push debris together, it is especially prevalent. Between Hawai’i and California, in a stretch of water known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, much of the metric tonnage of plastic is comprised of ghost fishing gear. But it doesn’t have to be this way; there are potential solutions that could dramatically reduce the amount of abandoned gear in the oceans, keeping plastic out of food webs and reducing the overall burden of the fishing industry on marine pollution.

New research estimates that nearly 2% of all fishing gear is lost annually. This might not sound like much, but it adds up to 25 million pots and traps, along with 78,000 square kilometers of nets. This gear poses a serious threat to ocean wildlife, which get entangled in gear or consume plastic pieces as gear breaks down. Meanwhile, broken-down plastic eventually becomes tiny microplastic particles, which are increasingly ubiquitous in marine food chains and cause serious health issues for fish and other wildlife, as well as potential harm to the people who eat them.

That gear also has a direct human cost, especially for smaller fishermen who are trying to be good stewards of the ocean: For small boats, ghost gear can affect vessels’ propulsion and ability to maneuver, ultimately making sustainable fishing even more difficult. Jon Russell, Food Justice Organizer at the North American Marine Alliance (NAMA), maintains that gear losses are less common when fishermen are careful, and says that in smaller fishing communities, there’s still a sense of pride in doing things the right way. While larger operations can afford to bear the brunt of gear losses financially and operationally, smaller fishers often can’t. But these small fishing communities are still impacted when commercial fleets set their traps down haphazardly. “Then it creates this culture: ‘Well, if they’re not going to do it right, we’re not going to do it right’ and it just gets really toxic really fast,” he says.

When gear is left on the fishing ground by larger boats, it can severely impact the daily routine of other fishermen, particularly smaller operations. “If it’s going to interfere with our daily routine, we cannot maximize our catch,” says Captain Charlie Abner, who is a small boat fisherman and shrimper in the Southeast U.S. “You lose a whole day of fishing because you’ve got to redo your rigs. You’ve got to untangle this, you’ve got to untangle that. So, it’s not easy.”

Read the full article at Salon

2022 Ghost Gear Removal Competition reveals extent of fishing’s contribution to marine plastic pollution

December 7, 2022 — A ghost gear removal competition, hosted by the Azores tuna fishery, has resulted in a plastic-neutral status for the islands’ pole-and-line fishery for the 2022 fishing season.

The competition picked up 735 kilograms of marine litter, with 620.65 kilograms of that total being fishing gear, according to the International Pole and Line Foundation (IPNLF). Ghost gear is fishing gear that has been abandoned, lost, or discarded at sea that entrap animals, snag on sensitive habitats, spread disease, and contribute to an invasion of alien species.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Smart buoys offer hope for reducing environmental and economic damage caused by lost fishing gear

September 28, 2021 — Lost fishing gear — be it nets, lines or pots — continues “ghost fishing” forever, causing a slow death for countless marine creatures and financial losses to fishermen.

Now new “smart buoys” can track and monitor all types of deployed gear and report its location directly to a cellphone or website.

Blue Ocean Gear of California created and builds buoys that also can track ocean temperatures, depth, movement, even how much has been caught. The small, 3-pound buoys are just 7 inches in diameter, don’t require special training to use and are tough enough to handle the harshest ocean conditions.

“All the information is collected in a database,” said Kortney Opshaug, company founder and CEO. “We have both a mobile app that you can access from your phone or a web interface that allows you to see more of the data, charts and things like that. Most of the buoys have satellite transmission, but some also have radio transmission and we’re working more and more with that. They’re slightly more cost effective, and we can create networks out on the water that are talking to one another.”

Opshaug and her Silicon Valley team of engineers and product developers were motivated primarily by the impacts of lost gear on the marine environment and the costs to fishermen.

Read the full story at the Anchorage Daily News

 

HAWAII: Marine debris team joins the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project to remove fishing nets from coral reefs

August 30, 2021 — NOAA and the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project partner to remove derelict fishing nets from coral reefs across the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

Scientists and divers from NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center are teaming up with divers from the Papahanaumokuakea Marine Debris Project for a 30-day mission to remove marine debris from the islands and atolls within the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

The team departed Honolulu on the M/V Imua on Tuesday. We expect the ship to return with more than 110,000 pounds of derelict fishing gear and other marine debris at the end of September.

The 2021 marine debris removal mission will focus on surveying for and removing marine debris from coral reefs and coastal environments. They will be working on Kamole (Laysan Island), Kamokuokamohoali‘i (Maro Reef), Kapou (Lisianski Island), Kuaihelani (Midway Atoll), Holaniku (Kure Atoll), and Manawai (Pearl and Hermes Atoll).

Read the full story at KITV

MAINE: Maritime Shorts: Ghost gear, Marine Patrol, road map plans

August 18, 2021 — A study in southwest Nova Scotia estimated that abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear, also known as ghost gear, account for more than $175,000 Canadian dollars in commercial losses annually.  

A team of researchers conducted 60 trips to retrieve the gear in one of Canada’s most productive lobster fishing regions and removed 7,064 kilograms of ghost gear – two-thirds of which were lobster traps. Those traps continued to capture species and the scientists found 239 lobsters and seven groundfish in the study. Buoys, rope and dragger cable were also retrieved and were either disposed of or repurposed. 

Most of the traps were believed to be less than 4 years old, though the oldest found was from 1987. Based on their markings, some of the debris likely originated from the U.S., likely traveling northward from the southern Gulf of Maine, according to the study. Tires, party balloons and a fan belt were also recovered.  

“While fishers often attempt to retrieve gear when it becomes lost during the fishing season, regular retrieval is challenging due to regulatory requirements, relocation issues, and lack of resources,” the study published in Marine Pollution Bulletin last month read. “Thus, allowing (abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear) to persist, potentially continues to indiscriminately catch commercially valuable lobsters and other species and contributes to the growing problem of marine debris.” 

Read the full story at the Mount Desert Islander

Global Ghost Gear Initiative report provides recommendations for government action

August 11, 2021 — A new report has foundthe best way to reduce the impact of lost fishing gear is to enforce existing rules.

The report, “Ghost Gear Legislation Analysis,” was jointly written bythe World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Ocean Outcomes, and Ocean Conservancy’s Global Ghost Gear Initiative (GGGI). It assesses existing government legislation and policies addressing ghost gear and provides recommendations to governments to strengthen existing efforts and other actions to address lost, abandoned, or discarded fishing gear.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

How ‘ghost’ fishing gear affects at-risk species and fisheries’ bottom line

August 5, 2021 — Southwest Nova Scotia is one of Canada’s most productive lobster fishing region, spanning more than 21,000 square kilometers and contributing a significant portion of the country’s lobster supply.

With a busy fishery, though, has come the growing challenge of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG)—a collection of traps, ropes, hooks, cables and other fishing-related equipment that drift through the water column or litter the ocean floor. It is a global problem, but one that hasn’t been widely quantified.

Researchers at Dalhousie University wanted to find out how much gear might be in the Southwest Nova Scotia (SWNS) fishing zone and how it might be affecting the existing fishery. Their recently published baseline study provides the first preliminary assessment of environmental and economic impacts of ALDFG on the commercial lobster industry in the area.

Read the full story at PHYS.org

Canada Launches New Ghost Gear Online Reporting System

July 23, 2021 — Canada’s Fisheries Minister Bernadette Jordan announced a new system that will allow harvesters to easily report their lost fishing gear online.

The Fishing Gear Reporting System will now allow commercial harvesters to quickly put a description of lost gear, the cause of loss and its location from any online device.

Read the full story at Seafood News

NORTH CAROLINA: Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project Complete

April 5, 2021 — More than 3,000 crab pots were collected from coastal waters earlier this year during a collaborative effort to address marine debris.

The Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Program provided $115,599 for the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, which was headed up by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, to hire 60 commercial watermen and women to collect lost crab pots in January from the Virginia line to Cape Carteret.

Pots typically end up lost as the result of weather and can become hung in structures such as bridges or drift into channels over time, increasing the likelihood of buoy detachment by vessel traffic.

“We all take great pride in our livelihoods and waterways. In my opinion, this project has been unbelievable in helping keep our waterways clean and to make sure that the crab mortality rates continue to remain low, since removing the gear also frees any fish or crabs left behind,” said Mike Mixon, who has been fishing for 36 years and docks in Wanchese.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online

NORTH CAROLINA: NCCF, commercial fishermen prepare to recover lost fishing gear

January 8, 2021 — A Carteret County-based coastal conservation nonprofit and partnered commercial fishermen are preparing to collect lost fishing gear.

The N.C. Coastal Federation is set to begin its seventh year of the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project. According to an announcement from the federation Tuesday, 31 commercial watermen along the northern and central coast will set out this week into sounds to collect lost crab pots. The boat crews will conduct crab pot removal each day starting around Friday. Removal will take approximately one week.

“Every year, crab pots and other fishing gear are lost in our sounds in a variety of ways,” the federation said. “Lost gear can get hung up or drift into channels, creating hazards to boaters and wildlife. Since 2014, the federation has led the Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project in an effort to remove lost crab pots from North Carolina sounds.”

With the help of various partners, commercial fishermen and women are hired to collect the pots during the no-potting period, which is the annual closure of internal coastal waters to all crab, eel, fish and shrimp pots.

Read the full story at the Carteret County News-Times

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