The good work being done by the NW Straits Foundation. These are the same folks that fund our Marine Resources Committees in the Northern Sound. They finished the work on derelict nets last summer, and now are onto clearing out the derelict crab pots under the Sound. This is what the advancements in high tech like side scan sonar, have allowed us to accomplish. What it points to are more innovative ways to solve our environmental problems. Ways that we haven’t even dreamed of yet. Support the work of the NW Straits Foundation and donate to them if you can. http://www.nwstraitsfoundation.org
Abandoned or lost crab pots are an annual environmental challenge, one that the Northwest [Straits] Foundation faced yet again Tuesday. Aboard a boat near Everett on a windy and choppy morning, computers guided divers to spots with derelict crab pots on the floor of Puget Sound. Northwest [Straits] Foundation estimates that about 12,000 crab pots are lost each year. Sometimes that number climbs to 14,000. The pots keep fishing after they’ve cut loose from holds. Crab continue to pile in but then run out of food and eventually die. Around 180,000 harvestable crabs are lost to derelict pots each year. Alison Morrow reports. (KING)
http://www.king5.com/tech/science/environment/lost-crab-pots-cleared-from-puget-sound/327439073
Filed under: Puget Sound | Tagged: Puget Sound |
How much does the state pay for each retrieved pot?
I’ll see if I can find that out. The funding is not totally from the State. But from their web site: http://www.nwstraitsfoundation.org/derelict-gear/ It states: At Point Roberts, alone, abandoned nets were destroying $437,000 worth of crab every season.Fortunately, since 2002, we’ve been able to remove more than 5,900 pieces of dangerous derelict gear from Puget Sound—restoring more than 870 acres of precious marine habitat. Our work also protects more than 32 seals, porpoises, and other marine animals every week.”
It’s possible to put a price on ‘every crab pot’ retrieved, but it’s harder to weigh the complete story, with the destruction of $437k worth of crab in one location alone. Since these pots keep catching crab for years, the price of the retrieved gear is likely much higher than the one time cost to retrieve them. But I’ll continue to check.