Saving Seafood

MARYLAND: Talbot County environmental consulting firm plans to recruit watermen to help clean up ‘ghost pots’

October 13, 2026 — An Easton-based environmental consulting firm has won federal money to pull abandoned crab pots, known as “ghost pots,” out of the Chesapeake Bay, and local watermen will be paid to do the retrieval.

According to the Virginia Institute of Marine Sciences, Rauch Inc. received $126,000 to recruit commercial watermen to recover derelict crab traps in Talbot County waters, including around Tilghman Island. The money comes through a NOAA subaward through the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Those areas were chosen based on a 2016 assessment by NOAA’s Marine Debris Program and the institute.The assessment predicts high levels of derelict pots off of Tilghman Island.

Read the full article at WBOC

NEW JERSEY: New Jersey Partners with BoatUS Foundation to Track Abandoned Boats

September 30, 2026 — The following was released by BoatUS Foundation:

The New Jersey State Police is BoatUS Foundation’s newest partner in tracking and removing abandoned and derelict vessels (ADV) through the Foundation’s innovative ADV database. The national database provides a centralized resource for documenting ADVs, helping officials and agencies track vessels that may pose environmental, navigational, and public safety concerns.

In New Jersey, the New Jersey State Police (NJSP) Marine Services Bureau uses the database as an investigative tool to document and track ADVs. Information entered into the database can help investigators identify vessels, establish a record of reported incidents, and support enforcement and removal efforts when appropriate.

ADVs pose significant environmental and safety risks. They can damage sensitive aquatic habitats, leak fuel and other pollutants, obstruct navigation channels, and create hazards for other boaters. Removal costs can average $24,000 or more, depending on a vessel’s size, location, and condition. A centralized tracking system provides a way to document these vessels and help identify those requiring further investigation or removal.

The database is the first national tool of its kind for tracking abandoned and derelict vessels. Boaters and residents can upload an optional photo, log the date and time of a sighting, answer a short set of safety and vessel-related questions, and drop a pin on an interactive map to mark a vessel’s exact location. Every report, whether submitted by the public or by an agency like NJSP, feeds into a single national dataset, giving communities, agencies, and advocates a shared picture of the ADV problem nationwide.

New Jersey’s adoption of the database builds on the Foundation’s broader push to remove hundreds of ADVs from coastal waterways nationwide, supported by a 2023 award from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program. That effort is already funding targeted removals in eight states and territories. The project will also bring the broader movement together at the Turning the Tide Summit, December 6-9, 2026 in New Orleans, Louisiana, where industry leaders, environmental stakeholders and waste management experts will tackle sustainable ADV disposal solutions.

To report an abandoned or derelict vessel, visit boatus.org/database. If you’re interested in attending the Turning the Tide Summit, register here.

###
ABOUT THE BOATUS FOUNDATION:
BoatUS Foundation is supporting projects that were selected through its nationally competitive grant program for the removal of abandoned and derelict vessels throughout coastal and marine areas of the United States, including the Great Lakes. In an effort to help educate and prevent future ADVs, the Foundation also created a national ADV database to track the scope of the challenge and measure success, document ADV prevention and removal activities to share with the public, and support a national dialogue and education efforts on boating-related debris disposal. This project is supported by a 2023 award from the NOAA Marine Debris Program.

ABOUT THE NEW JERSEY STATE POLICE MARINE SERVICES BUREAU:
The New Jersey State Police Marine Services Bureau patrols state waterways, enforces boating laws, manages safety certification, and responds to on-the-water emergencies. Headquartered in West Trenton, New Jersey, the bureau oversees recreational boating safety and coordinates training across New Jersey’s coastal and inland waters.

W&M’s VIMS & Batten School partner with NOAA to expand access to shallow water mapping data in the Chesapeake Bay

July 15, 2026 — A new partnership between William & Mary’s VIMS & Batten School and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) turns routine vessel operations and lost crab trap removal into a new source of valuable bathymetric data.

Bathymetry describes the depth and shape of the seafloor relative to a known elevation reference and is essential to understanding and managing coastal environments. Accurate bathymetric data are foundational to a wide range of scientific, planning and management applications, including coastal resilience, hurricane and storm surge forecasting, sediment transport, habitat mapping, fisheries management and navigation safety. Bathymetry data is a valuable tool, particularly in shallow, nearshore areas that are difficult and expensive to map using traditional methods.

The collaboration was formalized through the recognition of VIMS & the Batten School as a “Trusted Node,” a designation by NOAA and the International Hydrographic Organization acknowledging reliable partners for collecting, processing and submitting bathymetric data for public use. Only 16 other organizations worldwide have been awarded this status.

Read the full article at EurekAlert!

Scary Problem: Ghost Gear Haunts New England’s Salt Waters

February 23, 2026 — Commercial fishing for shellfish, lobster, and finfish is an economic driver for many coastal communities along the Atlantic Coast, including ports in southern New England. Much of the gear now used in these fisheries is made of plastic, and lots of it is lost at sea every year.

It has been estimated, for example, that between 5% and 15% of lobster gear is lost annually to storms, propellers, and accidents. Since commercial fishing gear is used in harsh conditions it requires frequent replacement and is expensive to dispose of, some of it is deliberately dumped. Either way, all the fisheries are represented in the world’s stock of derelict fishing gear, more commonly called ghost gear.

Some 500,000 to a million tons of fishing gear is estimated to be lost at sea every year, and this ghost gear makes up 10% of all marine debris. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program has collected 2,000 tons (4 million pounds) of gear from 56 locations in U.S. waters.

This lost gear ranges from monofilament and braided fishing lines to ropes and nets to pots and traps. This jumble of commercial fishing equipment can be catastrophic for ocean life, ensnaring fish and marine mammals and endangering sea turtles.

Read the full article at ecoRI

NOAA awards over $26.4 M for marine debris removal

December 9, 2025 — Thirteen new projects have been funded for over $26.4 million under the NOAA Marine Debris Program, with a focus on abandoned and derelict vessels and fishing gear, and the use of proven debris interception technologies.

Recipients of the funding announced on Dec. 4 by the NOAA Marine Debris Program for fiscal year 2025 included nine for large-scale marine debris cleanup and four using debris technologies.

Pacific Coastal Research & Planning, a small non-profit in the Northern Mariana Islands, was allocated $4.9 million to remove 23 abandoned boats and an estimated 40,000 pounds of derelict fishing gear from the coastal environments of the U.S. Territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands, and the Freely Associated States of the Republic of Palau and Federated States of Micronesia.

Washington’s Department of Natural Resources received $3.5 million for removal of four large, run-down, and abandoned boats from the coastal and marine waters of Washington State and tidally influenced areas of the Columbia River. These former military vessels were abandoned by their new owners and now pose serious risks to Washington’s waterways, according to NOAA.

Read the full article at the National Fisherman

BoatUS Foundation launches first national database to track abandoned boats and derelict vessels across the U.S.

November 6, 2025 — The non-profit BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water has developed a database that will identify the locations of abandoned and derelict vessels (ADVs) across the U.S., freely associated states, and U.S. territories and track their removal.

Created in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Marine Debris Program, this national database will allow visitors to report abandoned and derelict vessels on their coastlines, allowing the issue to be better understood on a national scale with the support of the public. Eventually, this database will be able to track the impacts of removal and prevention efforts by showing how the number of ADVs across the country may one day decrease.

Read the full article at Island Free Press

Feds Fund ‘Abandoned Boats’ Program Nationwide

August 14, 2025 — More than 300 abandoned and derelict boats across six states and two unincorporated terrorities are earmarked for removal from local waterways under funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Marine Debris Program.

The program will be administered through the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water, according to a statement from the foundation last month. NOAA awarded $7.4 million to fund 10 projects in July.

“The ADV (abandoned and derelict vessels) grants will fund removal and education efforts in communities heavily impacted by ADVS and the navigation, safety and pollution hazards they pose,” the July 31 statement said.

A panel of independent salvage experts, state boating advocates and nonprofit research groups and planning states selected the projects.

Projects include the Metlakatla Indian Community in Alaska; city and borough of Yakutat, Ala.; Sitka Conservation Society, Ala.; Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government, La.; Makah Indian Tribe of the Makah Indian Reservation, Washington state; state of Maine; U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Planning and Natural Resources; North Carolina Coastal Federation; Oregon Department of State Lands; and the Port Authority of Guam.

Read the full article at The Sand Paper

New law targets ‘ghost fishing’ by old gear. How discarded traps and nets are harmful

December 26, 2024 — Abandoned fishing gear has posed problems for authorities wishing to clear it from state waters and shorelines for decades, but new legislation is aimed at making that task easier.

An amendment by state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, to an existing statute will speed the process of removing the environmentally harmful debris.

“Left unchecked, abandoned fishing gear poses several threats to our marine environment and ecosystems,” Tarr stated in a press release.

One of the problems it creates, he said, is “ghost fishing.”

According to the NOAA Marine Debris Program, “Ghost fishing occurs when lost or discarded fishing gear that is no longer under a fisherman’s control continues to trap and kill target species like fish and crustaceans, and non-target species like marine mammals, sea turtles, and seabirds. Derelict fishing nets and traps can continue to ghost-fish for years once they are lost under the water’s surface. Storms, ship traffic, and interactions with other types of fishing gear are the primary mechanisms for gear loss, resulting in an estimated 1% to 5% annual rate of gear loss in the Massachusetts lobster fishery. In Cape Cod Bay, derelict lobster traps are estimated to kill 12,500 to 33,000 lobsters per year. By removing derelict fishing gear, ghost fishing can be reduced.”

Read the full article at the Standard-Times

Intertidal: Managing the Gulf of Maine’s migratory highway

November 18, 2021 — Travel between countries is beginning again in many places in the world. Travel for humans, that is. For those that live in the natural world, this is the season for migration and travel is just part of the normal cycle of things regardless of political boundaries. This is particularly true in the water where there is a literal fluidity of movement from place to place: shallow to deep, north to south, or salty to fresh. The ocean is perhaps the best example of a global resource where all the water is connected, and so is everything that lives in it.

In an effort to recognize the cross-boundary nature of ocean creatures, states and even countries sometimes work together to monitor who lives where and when. The Gulf of Maine is a boundary-crossing body of water on multiple levels. While it has “Maine” in its title, it stretches across New Hampshire and parts of Massachusetts to the south. To the north, it reaches up into Canada. One of the groups that has pulled together the many parties working on and studying the Gulf of Maine recently received funding to address the issue of marine debris in a collaborative way.

The Gulf of Maine Association is a non-profit whose mission is “to maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine and allow for sustainable resource use by existing and future generations”. Partners in the Association have worked together on both research and policy in the past. The recently awarded grant is part of a larger initiative of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s (NOAA) North America Marine Debris Prevention and Removal program that provides funding to prevent and remove debris from the oceans across the country as well as down into Mexico and up into Canada.

Read the full story from the Times Record at the Portland Press Herald

HAWAII: UH Sea Grant shares in award to address marine debris, protect wildlife

August 31, 2021 — To address the devastating impacts of marine debris in the coastal environment, one of the leading causes of injury and death for sea turtles, seabirds and Hawaiian monk seals, the University of Hawaiʻi Sea Grant College Program (Hawaiʻi Sea Grant) and Hawaiʻi Marine Animal Response (HMAR), the largest Hawaiʻi-based marine species response and conservation nonprofit organization, received $50,000 from NOAA Sea Grant and the NOAA Marine Debris Program. This grant is matched by $50,000 from non-federal sources.

The funding is one of six new, creative projects to tackle marine debris challenges across the country awarded to Sea Grant programs in Hawaiʻi, Florida, Georgia, Illinois-Indiana, Puerto Rico and Wisconsin. These marine debris projects total $300,000 in federal funding and are matched by non-federal contributions, bringing the total investment to approximately $600,000.

“By preventing marine debris, we can reduce the impacts of this global problem,” stated NOAA Marine Debris Program Director Nancy Wallace. “We are pleased to partner with NOAA Sea Grant to provide support for projects that will help stop trash and fishing gear at their source.”

Read the full story at University of Hawaii News