Derelict fishing gear poses global threat to oceans

Russian submariners aren't the only marine life to experience the perils of lost or abandoned fishing gear. Millions of derelict nets, hooks, fishing lines, lobster traps and crab pots litter the world's oceans.

They're potentially fatal hazards to divers and an array of wildlife, from seabirds to turtles to coral reefs.

The severity of the problem made global headlines last week when a Russian mini-submarine was trapped beneath the Bering Sea after its propeller became entangled in nylon fish netting.

For three days, the vessel was pinned to an underwater surveillance antenna system.

British and U.S. naval rescuers helped free the mini-sub Sunday, hours before the seven-man crew would have run out of oxygen.

"This is becoming a very high-priority issue," said Jeff June, project manager for a program in Washington's Puget Sound that removes abandoned gill nets and crab pots. "Derelict fishing gear is doing a lot of damage to wildlife and habitats, and there's a tremendous amount of it out there."

In a typical example, a lost gill net recovered last year off Washington state contained 150 dead salmon, several hundred dead Dungeness crabs, numerous dogfish and the skeleton of a shorebird.

In October, a harbor seal at the Children's Pool beach in La Jolla died after it was entangled and strangled by fishing line lost or discarded by a sport angler. Off San Diego, many reefs frequented by anglers are filled with lost fishing lures and twisted nests of monofilament fishing line, said Brock Rosenthal, president of Ocean Innovations, which tests and sells remote-operated undersea vehicles.

Monofilament is a clear, supple nylon fiber used used in all types of fishing. Rosenthal was recently maneuvering a robotic vehicle off La Jolla when it became mired in discarded fishing line. The high-tech submersible was recovered, but only after a few anxious moments.

"Entanglement is one of our biggest concerns," said Rosenthal, a member of the Deep Submersible Pilots Association. Although the vast majority of fishing equipment is lost accidentally, fishermen sometimes discard fouled gear to avoid the hassle of proper disposal, said Russell Brainard, an oceanographer for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Honolulu.

He has led a 7-year-old project to remove derelict commercial fishing nets from the northwestern Hawaiian Islands. Congress this year allocated $5 million to assess the magnitude of the problem and begin efforts to locate and retrieve discarded fishing gear. Lawmakers also are considering preventive measures. In July, the U.S. Senate passed the Marine Debris Research and Reduction Act.

The bill, which still requires House approval, earmarks $10 million annually over five years to develop programs to deter the abandonment of fishing nets, increase efforts to find and retrieve lost gear and award research grants for related projects. In California, Assemblyman Pedro Nava, D-Santa Barbara, is working on legislation to require fishermen to report lost nets and other fishing equipment. Nava is a member of the recently formed Ocean Protection Council.

Zeke Grader, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, said his members would support a reporting requirement. "Most of our guys go to great efforts to recover (lost gear)," Grader said. "But like in any industry, there are always a few bad actors." California officials also have received help from university researchers.

This summer, the state's Coastal Conservancy joined with UC Davis in launching California's first-ever program to find and remove derelict fishing gear. The conservancy gave $300,000 to the SeaDoc Society, part of the university's Wildlife Health Center.

The center's director, Kirsten Gilardi, is assembling a team of divers who will rely on sonar to find abandoned fishing gear. The divers will target four areas with widespread fishing: Catalina Island, Morro Bay, Point Lobos to Elkhorn Slough in Monterey County, and Humboldt Bay to Trinidad Head.

Derelict equipment that can be traced to its owner will be returned, Gilardi said. Seine nets are among the most expensive gear, costing $25,000 to $90,000. Along the Southern California coast, purse seiners are used to catch tuna, sardines, anchovies and squid. Gill nets and long lines – used to catch a variety of fish, including swordfish and salmon – cost anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars.

A crab pot or lobster trap is worth up to $150. "(Fishermen) lose money when they lose gear," Gilardi said. "It's not something that happens willingly." Lost fishing gear wasn't as serious a threat before World War II.

Before then, fishermen used natural materials such as hemp and linen, which are biodegradable. But during the past 50 years, most fishermen have switched to equipment made from long-lasting synthetic materials. Such nets, lines and other fishing instruments can trap and kill fish, dolphins, seabirds and other marine life for years after the equipment is lost.

Scientists have discovered that lost fishing nets accumulate in "convergence zones," typically island chains that act as catch basins. Nets floating in the open ocean are carried to convergence zones by spiraling ocean currents called gyres.

In the North Pacific, the nets accumulate in balls – like underwater tumbleweeds – in the lagoons of small islands and remote coral reefs called atolls. Brainard, the Honolulu oceanographer, and scientists from the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center have retrieved more than 500 tons of nets and other fishing gear from these remote islands since 1998.

"Most of what we find is from the commercial fishing industry," Brainard said. Along the West Coast, the most advanced program for removing derelict fishing gear was pioneered 2½ years ago by the Northwest Straits Commission in Washington.

To date, the program's diving crews have removed 266 gill nets and 784 crab pots from Puget Sound to the Canadian border. Removing the gear must be done by hand to prevent damage to sensitive reef habitat.

Divers use rustproof knives and scissors to carefully cut derelict nets away from the reef. The netting is brought to the surface using air bags. June, the marine biologist in charge of the effort, said the fishing-gear problem has been largely invisible to most Americans.

"If I took all the gear we've retrieved and hung it on the fences along the I-90 freeway where people would have to drive by it every day and see it, there would be a huge public outcry," he said. "As it is now, people drive over it with their boats and rarely see it."

Source: www.signonsandiego.com