Derelict Gear in Puget Sound
Decades of a thriving commercial and recreational fishery in Puget Sound has left tons of old fishing gear behind. The Northwest Straits Initiative works to survey and remove lost fishing gear.
Thousands of old crab pots litter the seafloor and thousands of nets are caught in rocky outcroppings and draped along waterways. Bad weather, mechanical failures and human error have caused fishermen to lose or abandon their fishing gear. Gillnets and crab pots (commercial and sport) can continue to fish long after the original owners have gone. The result is wasted seafood and needless damage to marine resources and habitat.
Our Goal
With American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding, the Northwest Straits Initiative is committed to removing 90% of derelict nets by December, 2010.
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ARRA Derelict Net Survey & Removal Project
The Northwest Straits Foundation was awarded $4.6 million in economic stimulus funding through a grant from NOAA last July. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds will provide resources to find and remove approximately 3,000 high priority derelict nets that remain in Puget Sound over the 18 month period ending December, 2010, and will fulfill the Derelict Fishing Gear Removal Program goal to clear 90% of existing derelict fishing nets from high priority areas of Puget Sound by 2010 (click on the weekly report below to see our current progress.) The project is expected to employ about 30 people and restore hundreds of acres of marine habitat. We will post updates about this important ARRA-funded project in partnership with NOAA on a weekly basis.
Click here for the report on February 1 - February 7.
Click here to watch the NBC Nightly News coverage of the derelict gear removal project, aired September 29. To view additional footage of Lee Cowan’s visit to the derelict gear team, click here, or go to the video gallery.
Click here to read an August 24 New York Times article about this project.
Click here to read the NOAA Marine Debris blog.
Who We Are
The Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative, authorized by Congress, is nationally recognized as an innovative approach to bring sound science and an ecosystem perspective together with citizen energy and entrepreneurship. The Northwest Straits Foundation is a non-profit organization established to support the scientific, restoration, and education projects and programs of the Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative. Click here for more information about the Northwest Straits Initiative.
Natural Resources Consultants, Inc. is the project operations manager for the derelict fishing gear removal program. Click here for more information about them.