Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative

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Derelict Fishing Gear Removal

For complete information on this project and progress to date, see our web site at www.derelictgear.org.

Porpoise found entangled in derelict net.

The Issue: Decades of a thriving commercial and recreational fishery in Puget Sound has left tons of old fishing gear behind. The Northwest Straits Initiative works to survey and remove lost fishing gear. We have found thousands of old crab pots littering the seafloor and hundreds of nets caught in rocky outcroppings and draped along waterways and we know that there are many more. Bad weather, mechanical failures and human error have caused fishermen to lose or abandon their fishing gear. Most of what we find is gillnets and crab pots (commercial and sport). Both can continue to fish long after the original owners have gone. The result is wasted seafood and needless damage to marine resources and habitat.

Click here to see reports in our bibliography on the Derelict Fishing Gear Project.

2008 MRC Conference - by Katrina Hoffman Removing marine species from recovered derelict fishing net San Juan MRC forage fish sampling
Northwest Straits Commission
10441 Bayview-Edison Rd Mt Vernon, WA 98273 (USA)

Tel: 360.428.1084 Fax: 360.428.1491 Email:
"A local approach to Restoring and Protecting Marine Habitat" Copyright © 2007 Northwest Straits Initiative    |    site by Mindfly