Chesapeake Bay program recovers thousands of abandoned fishing traps
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The Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s TRAP program and local fishermen are removing abandoned fishing traps, called “ghost traps”, from the Chesapeake Bay, a large estuary stretching from Maryland to Virginia.
Over the past two years, the program recovered more than 24,000 traps weighing 600,000 pounds. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently provided $225,000 to support this work, employing over 135 people and freeing nearly 36,000 marine animals caught in the traps.
These abandoned blue crab pots continue to trap and kill marine life even after being discarded, disrupting habitats and creating hazards for navigation. The current projects focus on the Herring Bay and Eastern Bay areas, utilizing the knowledge of local watermen to locate and remove the traps. The Virginia Institute of Marine Science previously conducted a similar removal effort from 2008 to 2014, taking out around 34,000 ghost traps and establishing its leadership in this type of work.
Other groups, like Ocean Aid 360 in Florida, also organise cleanups and “ghost trap rodeos” to remove marine debris.
