Program shows derelict crab pots pose extensive danger to wildlife
Virginia?s one-of-a-kind program to remove derelict crab traps from Chesapeake Bay is yielding important scientific data that will improve next year?s effort to recover these ?ghost pots? and further reduce their inadvertent trapping of Bay wildlife.
The program, funded by the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) and implemented by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), paid out-of-work crab dredgers last winter to use side-imaging sonar units to detect and retrieve abandoned crab pots and other marine debris that litter the bottom of Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Watermen were paid $300 a day, and were compensated for their fuel costs.
VIMS scientists, who set up the program and supervised the participating watermen, have analyzed the results of the program?s accomplishments in its first of three years. Their findings show that:
More than 8,600 crab pots were recovered, along with 61 abandoned nets and other debris, including a baby stroller. Many of the pots had been derelict for several years, and continue to inadvertently trap and kill a variety of wildlife. One fully functioning crab pot contained large native oysters that are estimated to be several years old. The environmental impact of new, longer-lasting vinyl crab pots also was identified as a concern.
The recovered crab pots were found to have captured over the winter more wildlife than anticipated, almost 5,000 animals, including crabs, fish, eels, turtles, a duck, and a muskrat. Scientists determined that each functional crab pot can capture and kill about 50 crabs a year.
The 58 watermen who participated in the program covered 1,524 square miles, roughly 376,000 acres, but could not reach thousands of pots that are suspected to be in shallow water. The program will be adjusted next year to include more shallow-draft boats that can reach these pots.
