This is the work of the organization that supports our Marine Resources Committees, both in Clallam and Jefferson County. It’s a great milestone. Real success at ridding one of the big scourges of the Salish Sea.
Knowing the deadly consequences abandoned fishing nets pose for marine life, a nonprofit has worked to remove 550 from Puget Sound this year alone. That brings to 5,600 the number of derelict nets the Northwest Straits Initiative and its partners have dragged out since 2002. The effect: restoring 800 acres of marine habitat. The group’s efforts to remove nets identified in shallow Puget Sound waters concluded in June. A celebration is scheduled Thursday in Everett to commemorate the milestone. Noah Haglund reports. (Everett Herald)
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20150810/NEWS01/150819965/Initiative’s-feat-Ridding-waters-of-nets
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: derelict nets, Northwest Straits Initiative, Puget Sound |
Hooray for Clallam and Jefferson Counties. I hope we can all apply this lesson to removing shellfish industry canoy nets from our estuaries. A Burley Lagoon neighbor opened a dead duck only to find it filled with plastic, including net debris. The Shellfish Growers Assn/. brags about their semiannual beach cleanup where they say most of the debris was non-industry related. The reason they didn’t find more industry debris is because people who live on shellfish sites are having to clean up debris DAILY, not semi-annually, to protect marine life.