Researchers search for lobster traps, nets and other 'ghost gear' lost near N.L. waters
CBC
When fisheries technologist Mark Santos and his team of student researchers depart from the port of Stephenville, N.L., they're not looking for lobsters, crabs or mackerels.
They're looking for "ghost gear" — fishing equipment lost in the deep, washed away by post-tropical storm Fiona.
"I usually work with gear technology, so actually testing gear and helping clients test out new fishing gear," he told The Current's Matt Galloway.
"But this ghost gear project came along, and I've always had an interest in it, so I kind of took it on."
"Ghost gear," which can include anything from pieces of rope to lost crab or lobster traps, has been haunting Canadian waters for years. But after Fiona ripped through the Maritimes last September, the waters surrounding Canada's east coast became inundated with more lost loot.
That's why earlier this year, Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) launched a call for applicants to the Ghost Gear Fund, a federally funded program intended to clean up the waters. The DFO is also working to replace some of the lost equipment.
As of Sept. 1, the Ghost Gear Fund has funded 91 projects for a total of $26.7 million — including the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Resources, an applied research unit within Memorial University's Marine Institute, which received nearly $1.1 million from the fund.
Project lead Santos started their retrieval mission in mid-August. He said they're using sonar and remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to help recover pieces of ghost gear.
"In open water, when you start talking about stuff that's down 60, 70, 100 metres … you're not getting a person down there. ROV is probably a better option," he said.
So far, Santos said his team have found more than 2,000 potential targets along the shores.
It's important to catch things as seemingly mundane as ropes or a net because "it's a trap that's down there that continuously fishes," Santos said.
"So either an animal goes into it, dies, attracts more animals and the cycle continues ... or it's a situation of a net that continuously fills with fish, it rots out, sinks to the bottom, and then as it rots, it floats back up, catches more fish," he said.
For fisherman like Renny Hickey, ghost gear is also an expensive loss.
"Traps are like $250 a piece, and you have as [many] as 20 lobsters in a trap," he said. "You lose one, it could cost a guy … $600 per trap."
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