Tag Archives: lost or abandoned crab pots
California crabbers use GPS to find whale-killing gear
Fisherman Jake Bunch leans over the side of the fishing boat “Sadie K,” spears his catch, and reels it aboard: an abandoned crab pot, dangling one limp lasagna noodle of kelp and dozens of feet of rope, just the kind of fishing gear that has been snaring an increasing number of whales off U.S. coasts. This year, Bunch is one of small number of commercial fishermen out of Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, and five other ports up and down California who headed to sea again after the West Coast’s Dungeness crab season ended this summer. The California fishermen are part of a new effort using their cellphones’ GPS and new software pinpointing areas where lost or abandoned crabbing gear has been spotted. They retrieve the gear for a payment — at Half Moon Bay, it’s $65 per pot —before the fishing ropes can snag a whale. click here to read the story 20:44
Abandon(ed) Pots Can be a Killer
Dive into Women’s Bay, an inlet located on the island of Kodiak and you will find a graveyard of lost or abandoned crab pots or as NOAA’s diving biologist Pete Cummiskey likes to call “Ghost Pots.” “King crab love structure, and that is one of the reasons I think that ghost fishing hits king crab harder then tanner crab; because king crab like to crawl on things and pile up against things. So king crab are a little more vulnerable in that way.” Listen, and read more here 16:10
