Thousands of old fishing nets removed from Puget Sound
Jan 11 2011 in Environment by Deborah Bach
Diver Jack Iotte removes a rockfish from a recovered gillnet. Photo courtesy of Northwest Straits Initiative
Close to 2,500 derelict fishing nets have been removed from the waters of Puget Sound over the past year and a half, under an initiative aimed at protecting the region’s marine life.
The Northwest Straits Initiative has removed 2,493 nets since the project started in July 2009 and a total of 3,860 nets since 2002, when the initiative was first launched.
“The mortality that occurred from those nets was very significant, especially for some of the species that are in decline,” said Northwest Straits Initiative Director Ginny Broadhurst.
Derelict nets capture and kill many marine mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates. Marine life found in the nets over the past 18 months has included rockfish, Dungeness crab, Chinook and about 25,000 butter clams, among other species, Broadhurst said.
“We found such a wide range of species,” she said. “The way I look at it, it’s a huge slice of the food web that’s not going to be affected now. Puget Sound is suffering from a lot of impacts, so this is a significant benefit.”
Joe Gaydos, regional director and chief scientist for the SeaDoc Society, said the initiative provided valuable benefits.
“Removing 2,500 derelict nets was not just a feel-good publicity stunt. This project provided real jobs and stopped the silent killing of thousands of animals, representing 185 different species, many of which we’re trying to recover,” he said in a statement.
“These include important species like abalone, rockfish, salmon and declining marine birds like grebes, loons and scoters. We need more projects like this.”
Divers worked full time on four boats that traveled around Puget Sound removing the derelict nets, which averaged 7,000 square feet in size. Crews used side-scan sonar, Broadhurst said, targeting areas with historically high fishing activity and places with rocky shorelines, which can snag nets.
The project was paid for with $4.6 million in stimulus funds from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and employed 30 people over 18 months, including divers, boat crews, biologists and information technology professionals.
Broadhurst said the Northwest Straits Initiative, based in Mount Vernon, Wash., is seeking additional funding to remove the estimated 1,200 to 1,500 gillnets still remaining in Puget Sound. Some nets are in waters more than 100 feet deep, she said, which would require the use of remotely operated vehicles.
“The nets have a big impact,” she said. “They don’t go away. They don’t degrade. We find nets that are 30, 40 years old.”
Caroline said on December 30, 2011
The responsible party should be made to pay through some form of ID on these nets. My way of fighting ocean issues is to never eat anything that comes from the ocean.
Pam said on April 10, 2011
Hello,
Great effort, good cause. Can people buy the nets that are found?
Pam
Tim R Jones said on January 12, 2011
Commercial fishing is at a very low point here in the San Juans and elsewhere. If in the old days, commercial fisherman were required to account for their nets and retrieve them if lost, this would not have occured.
I used to assist commercial fisherman in trouble, net in the wheel, mechanical failures, sinking, usually due to being overloaded with fish.
The commercial fishery has been pretty poorly managed. No wonder there are few fish around anymore.
I’m sure there are many derelict nets in deep water off the west side of San Juan Island.
This is a good program.
Todd Schwartz said on January 12, 2011
Recently I attended a Dept. of Fish & Game commissioner’s meeting in Olympia. One of the proposals is to require the commercial fishing fleet mark their nets and require them to report the position if lost. Currently there is a voluntary reporting system. In the last 5 years, only one net has been voluntarily reported. So far, no action has been taken to implement this simple and beneficial change.
If these rules are adopted, the NW Straights Initiative can spend their time removing the nets, rather than searching for them. With the use of monofilament nets in use today, they can continue killing sea life for many decades if not removed.
DGirl101 said on January 11, 2011
Is there a way to indentify from what boat these nets are coming? Probably not. There would be a lot of hollering, but maybe all nets should have an indentifier, so that if a derelict net is discovered the responsible party has to fetch it or pay for the port authority to do it. Instead of the taxpayers.