Ghost Gear

[menzies]

Amazing photo of the stag!

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-50510666

 

[oscar]

Humans are a pretty messy species.

 

[MurrayM]

https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/seabirds/laysan-albatrosses-plastic-problem

 

[C lectric]

Yes, we are.

I know there are things I'm doing ignorantly that in 10 yr [hah 5 yrs] will be vilified.

But it does not help when people won't try at all even though they know the end results or argue there is no problem.

 

[MurrayM]

...But it does not help when people won't try at all even though they know the end results or argue there is no problem.

Read a saying from the Wolof (spelling?) people of Africa, which went something like:

To not know is bad.
To not want to know is worse.

 

[OldDan1943]

I am surprised the various govt. authorities do not require an ID tag on all nets.
People ID the crab and lobster pots and get mighty PO at someone raiding their pots so why not nets too.

Side note, ever think about plucking a lobster or two from a pot? Where do you leave the money?? LOL Perhaps put the money in a mason jar or plastic bottle with a note, thanking them and put it in the trap? "I took 2 lobsters from your pot for dinner.", then include a $20 bill?

 

[psneeld]

Many of the "ghost nets" I saw in the north pacific were from shipping and other vessels cutting though these massive areas of nets. Some nets were over 20 miles long by themselves. Long nets are now banned but "ghost nets" were common when these long nets got sliced/broken up.


Imagine the "maze" to get through them when 25-50 vessels were working an area of ocean.



There were strung out so far and wide and close to one another, there was no maneuvering through them. The sips turning radius wouldn't allow it and they were so poorly marked, in some conditions you couldn't see them until on top of them.


I bet there are cut pieces of nets floating around for decades after they were cut.

 

[O C Diver]

My recollection is that the crabbing and lobstering fisheries are required to have doors that dissolve over time to keep ghost pots from continuing to trap and kill. Seems like the netting fisheries need to be required to go to biodegradable nets or atleast the attachment cordage that holds the floats on. From decades of scuba diving shipwrecks, it became clear that losing nets wasn't the problem as much as the floats holding a portion of the net up to catch fish. Once we cut the balls off, the nets would settle to the bottom and disappear into the bottom in a year or two.

Ted

 

[Portage_Bay]

2015 NOAA Marine Debris Program Report Impact of “Ghost Fishing“via Derelict Fishing Gear

Large Whale Entanglements

 

[Pete Meisinger]

I just cringe when I see helium balloon releases. These things will eventually up in the ocean or other water.

Thank God we see less and less of them these days.

pete

 

[GFC]

I know it's a small thing but it's a way we can contribute...whenever we're in the dinghy I use the small fishing net to pick trash out of the water. It's not a lot, but at the end of a day running around we often have 10-12 pieces of plastic or other litter.

 

[localboy]

My recollection is that the crabbing [and lobstering] fisheries are required to have doors that dissolve over time to keep ghost pots from continuing to trap and kill. Ted

Yes. In the PNW shrimp & crab pots require escape openings of a certain size, held closed by cotton twine that quickly rots in the marine environment.

Most “stolen pots “ are not stolen at all, but carried by the strong currents here due to large tidal changes. Light, cheap pots can be carried for miles. I weigh our pots down (eg: shrimp pots are about 40#) and use large, round fenders as secondary floats; the small floats mandated by law do not have enough lift to remain on the surface in a big current.

I assume lobster pots are the same. No lobsters up here tho...

 

[localboy]

I know it's a small thing but it's a way we can contribute...whenever we're in the dinghy I use the small fishing net to pick trash out of the water. It's not a lot, but at the end of a day running around we often have 10-12 pieces of plastic or other litter.

We do the same. I’ve picked up flotsam of all types in Puget Sound. Even a helm chair, once.