Ghost Fishing Haunts Puget Sound
Written by Daniel Turner, Tuesday May 18 2010
Fishing gear that has been lost or abandoned in Puget Sound continues to do its job as it ensnares and kills marine life, damages boats and alters the landscape around the frigid waters. Nets that were left behind when cut away by accident or careless discarding continues to trap salmon and other fish. The abandoned equipment is dubbed ghost gear by sportsmen and conservationists and both realize the potential for disaster. Along with nets that are used to catch salmon by their gills, crab pots and fishing traps also make up the ghost gear that is being retrieved from Puget Sound and other waterways.
Ginny Broadhurst, the director of the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative estimates close to 54,000 animals have perished at the hands of ghost gear. Along with fish they include invertebrates, birds and mammals. Perhaps the most poignant evidence of their deadly after life was recorded when a young grey whale was entangled in abandoned lines and netting and died off the coast of Los Angeles last week.
While the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative has stepped up its actions after receiving federal money that has increased retrieval in Puget Sound, other areas are just beginning to realize the impact of ghost gear. In the northwestern Hawaiian Islands endangered Monk seals have been found dead in discarded nets. Abandoned crab pots continue to reap a harvest in Chesapeake Bay. The two years old Virginia Marine Resources Commission has recovered over 9,800 crab pots and estimate that each pot catches at least 50 marketable blue crabs each season.
The Puget Sound region has initiated a recycling program for old fishing gear. Equipment turned into Schnitizer Steel in Portland, OR will be recycled to make new gear while items turned into Covanta Energy will be converted into power.
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