Ghost trap retrieval volunteers

[oldflounder]

I am wondering if there is any interest amoung you divers to help in a program to locate, mark, retrieve, etc. the newer ghost traps that are constantly being lost to storms. Maybe the decrepid ones also. This would involve working with the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation probably this next winter after the traps are gone and the boat traffic has died down. The Foundation is out of Kennebunk, ME and has interests up and down the Maine coast. I don't have to tell you about these traps. We see them everywhere, all the time. This is a way to work with the owners of those traps to get some of them out of the water from Kittery to Eastport and beyond. Many of the traps are up against the rocks in the shallows and cannot be retrieved by grappling methods. With the owners assistance we can help retrieve these traps or we can get special F&G permits to do it.

What are your thoughts on working with the Lobster Foundation and what we could do to help?

 

[DavidInNH]

Why would we want to retrieve these? If trying to protect critters from getting trapped, it would be simpler to just cut the trap. Retrieving it wouldn't seem necessary. Just my thoughts.

 

[fire_diver]

Salvage rights! I bet fishermen would buy them from you. Just like golfball divers selling used balls back to the golfers!

 

[oldflounder]

Why do you participate in ocean clean-up day? They are ghost traps, sitting unattached on the ocean bottom. They are trash littering up the bottom. You would go out and pick beer cans off the bottom on ocean cleanup day but you can't see any reason to remove the traps??? In the long term they become habitat, but for a short while they are death traps to a few fishes and a few other forms of marine life. How can we support ocean clean-up day and not support the removal of these traps???
Anyway I appreciate your comments whether pro or con to this idea.

 

[oldflounder]

Fire Diver - By law we are forbidden to touch these traps up and down the ME/NH seaboard even if they are washed up on the beach. Many of us would love to drag them out of the ocean shallows and throw them in a trash heap but if caught we could be subject to arrest and loss of our vehicle and dive gear on the spot.:depressed:

 

[DavidInNH]

If we remove the door on a dead trap, we prevent it from being a death trap. Retrieving them is not something that any of us should be doing. The lobstermen don't trust divers anyway and won't likely believe that traps we bring up were orphaned ones. They'll think we cut their lines to make them so.

 

[spectrum]

If we remove the door on a dead trap, we prevent it from being a death trap. Retrieving them is not something that any of us should be doing. The lobstermen don't trust divers anyway and won't likely believe that traps we bring up were orphaned ones. They'll think we cut their lines to make them so.

The way I read Old flounders idea is to build alliances with the lobster men to retrieve the traps. They may not be reusable but they carry license tags that tie up the trap allowance when lost. They have a huge incentive to retrieve recent losses.

As for why remove them, they rarely become anyone's home and they are rubbish on the seafloor. Building trust with the lobster fishery would be a plus too.

Pete

 

[spectrum]

Many of us would love to drag them out of the ocean shallows and throw them in a trash heap but if caught we could be subject to arrest and loss of our vehicle and dive gear on the spot.

And the it gets ugly!

 

[oldflounder]

The Foundation is presently in its 2nd year of a 2 year federally funded program "whose goals are to assess the presence of ghost gear, record data about it's condition and by-catch, and work with lobster communities to help establish systems for future gear disposal options." ............."In addition to salvaging or disposing of the gear, this project will allow DMR to investigate by-catch and escape vent performance, and examine the impact of ghost gear on lobster and other species."

It is predicted that we will be seeing even more ghost traps now because the new sinking line is even more subject to breaking.

I don't think many of us will be able to participate in the retrieval this coming winter but it is something we could help with in the years ahead if divers really wanted to make a difference in the ghost trap situation.

If anyone is interested in learning more go to Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation

 

[oldflounder]

[whoops - deleted double entry]