AP - "Ghost" traps, long lost, keep catching lobsters

[reefseal]

'Ghost' Traps, Long Lost, Keep Catching Lobsters - ABC News
'Ghost' traps, long lost, keep catching lobsters - Yahoo! News

In today's paper..

The article quotes a lobsterman saying don't feel the ghost traps aren't actively catching lobsters because they are so mangled and don't have bait in them. Such BS!

I have come across so many of these ghost traps with critters in them. These are in obvious ghost traps (overgrown with growth, bait bag is empty, the line is cut..) I've released hundreds of bugs, and fish (Cod..., Dogfish, sea ravens..) that are trapped and make it a habit to open the ghost traps when I come across them so no other critters get caught in them.

I encounter them in all my favorite dive spots (Nubble, Cape ann) and will come across huge clusters of pots inter twined and stuck together.. tangled lines trashing the bottom

Of course we're not supposed to bring them up or technically touch them.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Interesting and timely article. This year in particular I have noted what appears to be an increase in ghost traps in both Narragansett Bay as well as in Maine. We do alot of dives off of Ft Adams where there are quite a few. Also see them further out at Kings Beach and Bull Point. I noted a number along the Rockland breakwall in Maine. Folks would be very surprised and saddened to see the numbers of these traps and the contents that continue to occupy the traps. Actually I see few lobsters but do see many fish skeletons, crabs and live fish. I too open the latches but so many of these traps are still in operating condition that the latch likely recloses during the next tide change. I break off the eroded latches but there are many newer ghost traps that appear like they will be around for a long time.

 

[Chugwhump]

Down here is sunny Florida I often carry a little tool called the "Wonderbar" by Stanley Tools in areas that I know are prone to ghost traps and poacher traps.
I just pop off a couple of slats on the sides.
The critters have shelter and can come and go as they please thereafter.
I would not mess with a legal and intact pot.
I do not own the ocean and respect the lobstermen's livelihood.
There are plenty of bugs in the sea for all of us down here.
I am told it is illegal for me to touch a bug pot at any time.
Blah blah blah, yeah yeah yeah, so what.
Catch me if you can.
I am just a servant of the clowns at PETA when I render a ghost trap into safe shelter from it's existence as a giant sucking black hole.
I often celebrate my communion with the PETA PEEPLE with a cheeseburger on the way home.
Chug

 

[Belmont]

Down here is sunny Florida I often carry a little tool called the "Wonderbar" by Stanley Tools in areas that I know are prone to ghost traps and poacher traps.
I just pop off a couple of slats on the sides.
The critters have shelter and can come and go as they please thereafter.
I would not mess with a legal and intact pot.
I do not own the ocean and respect the lobstermen's livelihood.
There are plenty of bugs in the sea for all of us down here.
I am told it is illegal for me to touch a bug pot at any time.
Blah blah blah, yeah yeah yeah, so what.
Catch me if you can.
I am just a servant of the clowns at PETA when I render a ghost trap into safe shelter from it's existence as a giant sucking black hole.
I often celebrate my communion with the PETA PEEPLE with a cheeseburger on the way home.

Chug

100% with you Chug. I don't have any traps where I do most of my diving but I would do like you if I get the chance, count me in for the cheezeburger too.

Technically speaking, could you also cut the webbing with a knife or shears?

The government should require that a part of the closing mechanism be made of a metal that would corrode in sea water after a short time. Thus making the trap inoffensive.

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Technically speaking, could you also cut the webbing with a knife or shears?

The older traps are wooden and typically use a leather or nylon strapping that can usually be pulled apart. The newer traps are typically metal or plastic covered metal that have metal hinges. They can't be cut with shears but can be cut with snips.

 

[trappist]

We should organize a new national Scubaboard Day: where thousands of SB divers would go in the sea, all over the coast and only to look for these ghost traps. Flag them and get them out
Sometimes we can dream, right ?
It would be a day where the lobstermen would help us: first by removing their active traps so we are sure not to be mistaken, second by bringing up the ones flagged by divers... After all, it is also in their interest to only have active traps down there

 

[jpiolu]

We should organize a new national Scubaboard Day: where thousands of SB divers would go in the sea, all over the coast and only to look for these ghost traps. Flag them and get them out
Sometimes we can dream, right ?
It would be a day where the lobstermen would help us: first by removing their active traps so we are sure not to be mistaken, second by bringing up the ones flagged by divers... After all, it is also in their interest to only have active traps down there

The lobstermen probably like having ghost traps near their active traps. They provide nearby shelter for potential catch. A CT DEP officer I spoke to considered abandoned traps to be lobster habitat. I've seen lobsters living in burrows underneath abandoned traps as well as inside them.

Pots in CT (and probably most other states) are required to have escape panels, which are supposed to prevent the traps from killing lobsters on a continuing basis. The panels have a rectangular opening in them that allows undersize bugs to escape. After being submerged long enough, the panel's closure (string, etc.) is supposed to decay, allowing the panel to swing open and allow larger lobsters to escape. It probably doesn't always work the way it's supposed to.

About opening abandoned traps - A CT DEP enforcement officer told me that it is illegal in CT to tamper in any way with somebody else's trap, even if it is abandoned. "However", he said, "I won't be down there watching you with a camera."

 

[pdive]

The government should require that a part of the closing mechanism be made of a metal that would corrode in sea water after a short time. Thus making the trap inoffensive.

Pretty sure the government (at least Mass) requires this.

"Lobster traps not constructed entirely of wood must contain an "ghost panel" with the following specifications:

The rectangular opening covered by the panel must be at least 3-3/4" x 3-3/4"
The panel must be constructed of, or fastened to the trap with one of the following untreated materials: wood lath; cotton, hemp, sisal or jute twine not greater than 3/16" in diameter; or non-stainless, uncoated ferrous metal not greater than 3/32" in diameter. The door of the trap may serve as the escape panel if fastened with one of the specified materials.
The escape panel must be located in the parlor(s) of the trap, but may not be on the bottom."

Do those materials disintergrate in salt water?

 

[MSilvia]

I don't see where this is a problem... lobsters can leave traps at will. They aren't designed to keep them in there, but rather to make it hard for them to leave quickly. I've seen a lot of lobsters in ghost traps too, but I've NEVER seen a dead one in there. Have you?

 

[reefseal]

Come to think of it, I haven't but I have seen tons of other critters - Fish, Dogfish (woof!), etc, in the ghost traps.