Project to remove {loose} fishing nets from {Puget} Sound (Peninsula Daily News)

Peninsula Daily News

BLYN -- The Northwest Straits Commission will outline the details of a newly funded project to remove derelict fishing nets from Puget Sound during a meeting today.

The commission will present information from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribal Community Center, 1033 Old Blyn Highway.

The project started seven years ago through the work of the Clallam County Marine Resources Committee and grew into a regional project managed by the commission.


$4.6 million in funds

The Northwest Straits Marine Conservation Initiative was recently awarded $4.6 million in economic stimulus funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to pull derelict fishing nets from Puget Sound.

These funds, directed to the nonprofit foundation arm of the Northwest Straits Initiative, will allow the immediate hiring of crews and vessels to remove an estimated 3,000 nets from the sea floor.
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more: http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20090731/news/307319987




Lost commercial fishing nets -- called "ghost" nets by many -- are a serious problem. If buoys remain attached, they can drift near the surface for years; without buoys or weights, they tend toward neutral density, i.e. neither floating or sinking. Air-breathing marine life, such as sea turtles, seals, and porpoises -- even some birds, including endangered albatrosses -- become entangled below the surface and drown. Most modern nets are made of durable polymers which do not rot even after long exposure to seawater and sunlight, so they can go on killing for decades.

Googling "ghost nets" turns up lots of hits from Australian sources. Oz seems to have a particular problem with its Pacific Rim neighbors' vast fishing fleets losing their nets.

e.g. http://www.ghostnets.com.au/news.story.html?id=20