Derelict fishing gear
Net Gains: The Economics of Removing Derelict Fishing Gear
One of the best examples of science coming to the rescue of a dollar-and-cents conservation issue occurred when the SeaDoc Society recently got caught up in the question of abandoned fishing nets. In partnership with the Northwest Straits Initiative, SeaDoc developed a predictive model that clearly shows the cost of these ghost nets that continue to trap and kill marine life for decades.
Northwest Straits Initiative-funded researchers made multiple dives on derelict nets, counting trapped critters, studying decomposition rates, and determining how much of the dead marine life fell out of the nets as they were recovered (Over 17% of the catch never made it to the surface, showing how critical it is to have underwater scientists on the job). SeaDoc then dove into the data, actually inventing a statistical model to predict each cast-off net’s killing capacity.
The results? Abandoned nets catch and kill more than 1,000 invertebrates (mainly crabs), 150 fish, and nearly 80 birds every year, year after year after year – and most of these silent killers have been doing their dirty work since the 1970s. Run that data through the seafood value calculator and it quickly adds up, with each net wasting $19,656 in Dungeness crab alone, every 10 years. The one-time cost to retrieve a derelict net? $1,358. It doesn’t take an accountant to do that cost-benefit analysis.
Only through funding from private donors like you was SeaDoc able to do this ground-breaking (and net-cutting) science, which has led to clear policy and, more importantly, vital and measurable improvement in the Salish Sea ecosystem. Thank you.
To view the manuscript just published in Marine Pollution Bulletin, click here (pdf).
For more about SeaDoc's derelict fishing gear project, see our lost fishing gear page.
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Marine species mortality in derelict fishing nets in Puget Sound, WA and the cost/benefits of derelict net removal
Derelict Fishing Gear Study
Research by SeaDoc Director Kirsten Gilardi and others has studied the medical records from certain wildlife rehabilitation facilities in California to determine the rate and timing of injuries from derelict fishing gear.
Fishing gear-related injury in California Marine Wildlife
Joe Gaydos reappointed to Northwest Straits Commission
In January of 2009, SeaDoc Society Regional Director Joe Gaydos was reappointed to the Northwest Straits Commission by Governor Christine Gregoire. This is his second four-year term.
Get more details http://www.pnwlocalnews.com/sanjuans/isj/news/37490414.html">here.
One derelict fishing net: 3500 animals killed
A recent study by the Northwest Straits Initiative has shown that kill rates for derelict fishing gear are much higher than was understood. Animals caught in the nets decompose in as little as ten days. One of the monitored nets is now estimated to have killed some 2,300 fish and 1,200 marine birds in the 15 years it's been in the water.
SeaDoc Society Regional Director Joe Gaydos is quoted in the article. Gaydos is also a member of the Northwest Straits Commission.
Read the full story in the San Juan Journal online, or download the full report of the study, "Rates of Marine Species Mortality Caused by Derelict Fishing Nets in Puget Sound, Washington"
Lost Fishing Gear
LOST FISHING GEAR RECOVERY PROJECT
Lost fishing gear is commercial and recreational fishing gear -- nets, traps, pots, line -- that becomes lost or is discarded in the water. The gear ends up sitting on the sea floor, getting caught on rocky reefs, or floating in the water column. The majority of this lost gear does not decompose in seawater and can remain in the marine environment for years.
Lost gear impacts the marine environment in several ways: it can continue to "catch" marine animals, which become entangled or trapped; it can damage the habitat upon which it becomes entangled or upon which it rests; it can pose an underwater hazard for boaters, entangling boat propellers and anchors; and it can similarly endanger humans, especially divers. Lost gear is also a visual blight, diminishing the natural aesthetic quality of the seafloor and rocky reef habitat for underwater enthusiasts.
The SeaDoc Society at the University of California, Davis Wildlife Health Center launched the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project in July 2005 in partnership with the California Ocean Protection Council and State Coastal Conservancy, the Northwest Straits Commission (Mt. Vernon, Washington), and NOAA's Marine Debris Program and Office of Restoration. This project encourages ocean users to report the presence of lost gear, and hires experienced and certified SCUBA divers to remove gear from near-shore waters in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner.
Since May 2006, the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project has retrieved nearly 11 tons of gear from around the California Channel Islands (Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa and Santa Catalina). As well, the project has cleaned more than 1400 pounds of recreational fishing gear off public fishing piers from Santa Cruz to Imperial Beach including more than 1 million feet of fishing line. Several of these piers now have fishing line recycling bins, to encourage proper disposal of unwanted hooks and microfilament.
In 2008-2010, with the support of the California Wildlife ConservationBoard and the NOAA Marine Debris Program, the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project plans to help reduce the potential impact of lost fishing gear on living marine resources and underwater habitat by building upon successes to date to accomplish the following new goals:
- Enhance the function and restore underwater habitat of the Central Coast Marine Protected Areas by focusing gear recovery effort in this newly-established MPA network.
- Expand the recreational fishing gear recovery effort and voluntary fishing gear recycling program to more public-access marine fishing piers and to the charter fishing vessel fleets in Central and Southern California, working toward turn-over of these programs long-term to citizen volunteer groups and the commercial charter industry;
- Retrieve lost fishing gear anywhere on the coast where it is a high priority for removal because of demonstrated or potential impacts to marine wildlife and people, including more work in the Channel Islands Marine Sanctuary; and
- Increase the likelihood that ocean users and enthusiasts will know enough about the project and the issue to serve as our "eyes" on and under the water through outreach.
If you have lost fishing gear or if you have encountered or seen lost fishing gear and would like to file a report, please:
- Download a reporting form, or
- Call 1-888-491-GEAR
To download a copy of the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project Policies & Procedures manual (pdf), please click here.
If you have questions about lost fishing gear removal or for copies of our field reports, contact staff:
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Kirsten Gilardi kvgilardi@ucdavis.edu |
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Jennifer Renzullo jrrenzullo@ucdavis.edu |
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