More than ten thousands lost fishing nets and assorted metal junk have been hauled from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in the third year of Virginia’s one-of-a-kind Marine Debris Removal Program. Dr. John Wells, dean and director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, said that this program has now removed more than 28,000 ghost pots from the bay.
He also said that removal this marine debris through a program is an excellent way to love the earth. He added that the program, funded by NOAA through the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and administered by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, paid the watermen to use side-imaging sonar units to detect and retrieve lost or abandoned crab pots and other marine debris that litter the Bay floor.
According to VIMS scientists a total of 9,970 derelict crab pots were recovered, along with 52 lost nets and 532 other pieces of junk, including a jon boat, a portable generator frame, and a large metal crate used to transport hunting dogs. Ongoing research at VIMS funded through NOAA’s Marine Debris Program suggests 20 percent of all the crab pots set in a year are lost, primarily due to storms or boat propellers that accidentally cut the pots free from their buoys.
David Kennedy of NOAA’s National Ocean Service, which oversees the NOAA Marine Debris Division, said that marine debris, if unchecked, has economic impacts beyond the waters in which it exists. He told that this was the first and the largest, marine debris removal program of its kind in the country. It combines 21st century technology with the ingenuity and work ethic of Virginia’s commercial watermen. The program costs roughly $1 million a year. It is funded by NOAA through blue crab disaster funds made available to the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.
