Officials and fishermen at the Cape Cod Canal Visitors Center cheered 10,000 pounds of abandoned fishing gear hauled out of Cape Cod Bay, an area that’s a prime feeding ground for endangered right whales. It is told that the gear was hauled in by commercial fishermen who sail out of Sandwich Marina as part of a growing effort to preserve Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, an area off the coast of Massachusetts that’s home to hundreds of marine animals.
Capt. David Cassoni, president of the Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, rallied Sandwich fishermen to do their part. He informed that commercial fishermen are often accused of dumping gear intentionally in the ocean, but given the costs associated with purchasing lobster traps and other equipment it’s anything but intentional.
According to him fishermen are happy to do their part to rid the ocean of this debris. He told that the association hopes to keep this going for a while. David Hanley, who serves as a deckhand, said that debris hauled up with a catch can affect a fishing boat’s bottom line. He further said that they were dealing with trash every day, every tow.
It is told that the gear will be hauled from Sandwich to Connecticut by Covanta Energy, where the rope and other items that can be burned will go to the company’s waste-to-energy plant. Christine McCoy, a company spokeswoman, opined that the effort is a public-private partnership that includes Covanta, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Schnitzer Steel.
