CALIFORNIA LOST FISHING GEAR RECOVERY PROJECT

Commercial and recreational fishing gear -- nets, traps, pots, line -- that becomes lost or is discarded ends up sitting on the sea floor, getting caught on rocky reefs, or floating in the water column. The majority of this gear does not decompose in seawater and can remain in the marine environment for years. Lost gear impacts the marine environment in several ways: it can continue to "catch" marine animals, which become entangled or trapped; it can damage the habitat upon which it becomes entangled or upon which it rests; it can pose an underwater hazard for boaters, entangling boat propellers and anchors; and it can similarly endanger humans, especially divers. Lost gear is also a visual blight, diminishing the natural aesthetic quality of the seafloor and rocky reef habitat for underwater enthusiasts.

The SeaDoc Society at the University of California, Davis Wildlife Health Center launched the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project in July 2005 in partnership with the California Ocean Protection Council and State Coastal Conservancy, the Northwest Straits Commission (Mt. Vernon, Washington), and NOAA's Marine Debris Program and Office of Restoration. This project encourages ocean users to report the presence of lost gear, and hires experienced and certified SCUBA divers to remove gear from near-shore waters in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner.

Since May 2006, the California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project has retrieved nearly 11 tons of gear from around the California Channel Islands (Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa and Santa Catalina). As well, the project has cleaned several hundred pounds of recreational fishing gear off public fishing piers from Santa Cruz to Newport Beach. Several of these piers now have fishing line recycling bins, to encourage proper disposal of unwanted hooks and microfilament.

If you have lost fishing gear or if you have encountered or seen lost fishing gear and would like to file a report, please:

• Download a reporting form, or
• Call 1-888-491-GEAR

To download a copy of the California Lost Fishing Gear Removal Project Policies & Procedures manual (pdf), please click here.

If you have questions about derelict fishing gear removal or for copies of our field reports, contact staff:

	Kirsten Gilardi kvgilardi@ucdavis.edu		Jennifer Renzullo jrrenzullo@ucdavis.edu