The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has announced that their Ghost Gear Fund has removed 63 tons of lost fishing gear from the Atlantic Ocean in 2020.
DFO says the weight of the recovered gear is equivalent to 11 Elephants
The Ghost Gear Fund is an 8.3 million dollar initiative to fund several projects over two years, starting in 2020, to help remove lost or discarded fishing gear from Canada’s coastal waters.
They funded 26 projects this year. 22 in Canada and four internationally.
80% of the gear was found in the Bay of Fundy and coastal waters off Nova Scotia.
Lobster traps and crab pots made up 86% of what was retrieved. The rest were nets and longline from various fisheries. 3.2 km of rope was retrieved.
The program also works to reunite lost fishing gear with its owner. So far 101 pieces of marked gear have been claimed by harvesters.
