January 29, 2019 — “Ghost pots” remain a menace in the Chesapeake Bay, but how big a menace and what to do about them is anybody’s guess.
That could change now that the 1,056 hard crab fishermen licensed in Virginia are getting a chance to have their say.
Researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are mailing surveys to watermen asking for their ideas on the countless crab pots that, for any number of reasons, end up haunting the bay, trapping and killing crabs and other hapless creatures that crawl or swim inside.
“This is really to try to find out, what do the watermen want, what do they think,” said Jim DelBene, the VIMS graduate student who developed the Derelict Blue Crab Pot Survey.
In doing so, he researched what other states with blue crab fisheries, from Connecticut through Texas, are doing to reduce ghost pots. He sought out experts at VIMS and at the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and held focus groups for commercial watermen to help choose and frame the survey questions.