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Ghost Fishing

Derelict Fishing Gear and Ghost Fishing
 

The term ghost fishing likely dates back to a 1960 Food and Agriculture Organization meeting in Rome, Italy from a discussion on the observed consequences of lost gillnet gear (Smolowitz 1978). Synthetic fibers used to construct the fishing gear and the durability of those materials were cited as a concern to food security as untended or lost gillnets did not degrade and continued to catch fish for long periods of time.

 

Food production has relied on synthetic materials since the 1950s and the commercial fishing industry has benefited with access to lower cost materials that are resistant to degradation compared to non-synthetic materials (Deroine et al. 2019; Terry and Slater 1998). With the high demand for synthetic plastics, world oceans are encountering an increase in plastic pollution; abandoned or lost fishing gear are recognized as a major source of this pollution (Richardson et al. 2019).

When derelict fishing gear remains an operational unit the gear often continues to trap or net marine life culminating in the re-baiting of the gear—where the trapped species dies and attracts new scavengers who then can also become trapped (Gilardi et al., 2010; Arthur et al., 2014; NOAA, 2015; Goodman et al., 2019). The potential cycle of re-baiting traps has both environmental and economic impacts that are regularly studied by researchers and resource managers. 

Ronald Smolowitz, founder and current Treasurer of the Coonamessett Farm Foundation has 40 years experience as a marine engineer. During his tenure with the National Marine Fisheries Service, Mr. Smolowitz was instrumental in testing various lobster trap designs and examining the impacts of derelict traps to develop preventive measures to avoid ghost fishing. Mr. Smolowitz contributed a series of papers on these subjects as the offshore lobster fleet of New England began to expand in the late 1970s.

 

Those publications are shared here for consideration:

“Ghost Fishing of Vented and Unvented Lobster, Homerus american, Traps” by K.J. Pecci, R.A. Cooper, C.D. Newell, R.A. Clifford, R.J. Smolowitz. 1978 Marine Fisheries Review 40 (5-6). mfr405-62.pdf

“ Lobster, Homerus american, Trap Design and Ghost Fishing” by Ronald J. Smolowitz. 1978 Marine Fisheries Review 40 (5-6). mfr405-61.pdf

“Trap Design and Ghost Fishing:Discussion” by Ronald J. Smolowitz. 1978 Marine Fisheries Review 40 (5-6). mfr405-65.pdf

References: 

Arthur, C., Sutton-Grier, A.E., Murphy, P., Bamford, H., 2014. Out of sight but not out of mind: harmful effects of      derelict traps in selected U.S. coastal waters. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 86, 19–28.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2014.06.050. 

Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO), 2020b. Stock Status Update of American lobster (Homarus  americanus) in Lobster Fishing Area 33 for 2019. DFO Can. Sci. Advis. Sec. Sci. Advis. Rep. 2020/047. Retrieved f  from: http://publications. gc.ca/collections/collection_2020/mpo-dfo/fs70-7/Fs70-7-2020-047-eng.pdf. 

Deroiné, Morgan, et al. "Development of new generation fishing gear: A resistant and biodegradable monofilament."  Polymer testing 74 (2019): 163-169.

Gilardi, K.V.K., Carlson-Bremer, D., June, J.A., Antonelis, K., Broadhurst, G., Cowan, T., 2010. Marine species  mortality in derelict fishing nets in Puget Sound, WA and the cost/benefits of derelict net removal. Mar. Pollut. Bull.  60, 376–382. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2009.10.016. 

Goodman, A., Brillant, S., Walker, T.R., Bailey, M., Callaghan, C., 2019. A ghostly issue: managing abandoned, lost  and discarded lobster fishing gear in the Bay of Fundy in Eastern Canada. Ocean Coast. Manag. 181, 104925  https://doi.org/10.1016/j. ocecoaman.2019.104925. 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program, 2015. Impact of “ghost fishing” via  derelict fishing gear. https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/sites/defa ult/files/publications-files/Ghostfishing_DFG.pdf.

Richardson, K., Asmutis-Silvia, R., Drinkwin, J., Gilardi, K.V.K., Giskes, I., Jones, G., et al., 2019. Building evidence  around ghost gear: global trends and analysis for sustainable solutions at scale. Mar. Pollut. Bull. 138, 222–229. 

Terry, Barb, and Keith Slater. "Comparative analysis of synthetic fibres for marine rope." Journal of Consumer    Studies & Home Economics 22.1 (1998): 19-24.

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