California Coast & Ocean

“It is so personally satisfying to realize that a substantial quantity of derelict fishing gear can be removed in just one day of work,” says Tom Cowan, director of the Northwest Straits Commission. “That gear may have been needlessly capturing and killing fish, shellfish, marine birds and mammals for literally decades. While many marine restoration projects take years to plan and implement, removing derelict fishing gear provides immediate and quantifiable results.”

The programs in Hawaii and Washington state have served as models for a pilot program launched this past summer in California by the Coastal Conservancy and the SeaDoc Society, a marine ecosystem health program of the University of California, Davis, Wildlife Health Center. The Northwest Straits Commission is making a $25,000 in-kind contribution, using some of the funds allocated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for removing derelict gear from waters around the country, and the Laurel Foundation has provided $20,000.

Certified SCUBA divers will be hired to remove gear, using field-tested techniques. Like the programs in Washington and Hawaii, the California program is designed to operate on the “no-fault” principle. It will encourage the reporting of derelict gear by not assigning either blame or penalties. As in Washington, recovered gear will be returned to owners if they can be identified.

The pilot program will focus on state marine waters in four areas: Catalina Island, Morro Bay, Point Lobos to Elkhorn Slough in Monterey County, and Humboldt Bay to Trinidad Head in Humboldt County. The SeaDoc Society will set up web-based and toll-free reporting systems, so that fishermen, divers, and boat operators can report derelict gear they happen upon. After the pilot project is completed, in about a year, it is expected that the program will be expanded statewide.

Kirsten Gilardi, a wildlife veterinarian, coordinates the California Derelict Fishing Gear Removal Pilot Project. She is assistant director of the U.C. Davis Wildlife Health Center and executive director of the SeaDoc Society, which operates in California and Washington state. SeaDoc generates new scientific information for marine stewards at the local, state, and federal levels through research and translation of science to decision makers. See www.seadocsociety.org and also www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/whc.