It is fact that fishing gear remains for years after being used. In webs and rolling clumps, the nets, ropes and traps endure for decades as destructive artifacts of the fishery, suffocating life on the ocean floor, snaring fish and getting caught in propellers. The fishermen of Rockport will now learn new way to recycle the old gear into clean, renewable energy at the Covanta Energy-from-Waste facility in Haverhill.
The report says that an opening ceremony marking Rockport’s “Fishing for Energy” partnership is scheduled on Pigeon Cove Wharf, located at the end of Breakwater Avenue. The rain location is Conference Room A in Town Hall. Rockport Conservation Agent Geralyn Falco, and fellow Conservation Commission member Rob Claypool have suggested that the town look into organizing a large scale marine debris clean up, said Covanta will install two of the large bins in which fishermen can deposit their gear.
The program, which started in Hawaii, was introduced to Cape Ann in Gloucester in 2008 and aims to clean the ocean by collecting everything from nylon nets to wooden lobster traps and burning it to generate electricity. The “Fishing for Energy” program accepts various types of gear to be burned, including plastic lines and nets, and recycles metal equipment such as rollers and chains used on draggers.
