Proceedings of the Untangled symposium: - WSPA

Annex 4Submitted abstracts accompanyingposter presentationslooking into the problem of discarded equipment fromthe fishing and the fish farming industry.Traditionally the Norwegian oceans have been known tobe a place to dump waste, and it magically disappears.Norway has a 25150 km coastline with an active fishingfleet of 6500 vessels which constitutes 0,7 % of GDP.Rough weather, long distances and high landfill pricescombined leads to big amounts of fishing gear finding itsway to sea each year, adding to the continuously growingproblem of ghost fishing and entanglement of marinewildlife. The high quality of the equipment used in theNorwegian Sea and North Sea, the low temperature anddepths let the equipment continue to fish for decadesbefore it ends up at the sea floor. The Greenland Halibutespecially is in some areas threatened by extinction dueto lost gillnets.All equipment collected through Nofir is dismantled,packed and sold to European plastic recyclers. Plasticcomes in various types and has different values.While some equipment is easily traded, others arenot considered resources in the market today. Sellingthe most valuable fractions, makes us able to financecollecting the discarded equipment for free, look forsolutions for the less valuable and participate in the workfor an attitude change in the Norwegian fisheries.Even though we experience a growth in theenvironmental consciousness of the fishermen andfish farmers in Norway, still there is a long way to goto achieve zero dumping. This is best shown by thevast amounts of equipment The Norwegian Directorateof Fisheries collects when they arranges the yearlytrawling mission for lost and abandoned equipment.All equipment pulled out of the sea is recycled throughthe Nofir system.It is estimated that 64 000 tons of fishing equipment islost or dumped at sea each year on a European leveland this creates the need to coordinate a recycling effortacross Europe. Nofir aims to solve this challenge and hasin September 2012 launched EUfir. As the first Norwegiancompany we have been accepted by the European UnionCommission and will receive funding through the EcoInnovation program to make Nofir European.The role of state policy on cleanup of lobster trapsin Maine and New Hampshire, and a case study of asuccessful cleanupJennifer L. Kennedy 1 ; Gabriela Bradt 21Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation143 Pleasant Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801, USAjen@blueoceansociety.org2New Hampshire Sea Grant/UNH Cooperative ExtensionSince 2007, Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservationhas worked with New Hampshire Sea Grant andUniversity of New Hampshire Cooperative Extension tocharacterize and mitigate marine debris from southernMaine to northern Massachusetts, and in the Gulf ofMaine. This involves shoreline cleanups, underwatersurveys, and a derelict gear collection bin program.Lobster traps provide a significant portion of thedebris found during shoreline and underwater surveys.Potential impacts include entanglement and entrapmentof marine life (e.g., cetaceans, pinnipeds, fish andinvertebrates) in ropes and traps, use as habitat fornative or invasive species, and loss of fishing time dueto interactions with derelict gear. In a study of theimpacts of derelict lobster traps in 2010 and 2011,Glenn, et. al (2012) documented 23 different species(including lobsters, 3 crab species, fish and invertebrates)in abandoned traps in Cape Cod Bay and BuzzardsBay, MA. Mattila and Lyman (2010) stated that, regardinglarge whales, “ghost gear can complicate an existingentanglement,” and noted a case where a humpbackin New England had become entangled in a net - anentanglement that was complicated by several derelictlobster traps that had become attached. They alsoremarked upon previous studies that stated that it isdifficult to determine whether gear retrieved from anentangled whale was active or “ghost” gear when thewhale encountered it. Consistent with this, we havewitnessed entangled whales in our area of the Gulf ofMaine, but usually only see rope or monofilament fishingline, with no obvious indication as to the type of gear andwhether the gear was active, or ghost gear.Cleanups of derelict fishing gear such as lobster trapscould reduce the potential for entanglement. However,the laws regarding cleanup of lobster traps differ slightlyin Maine and New Hampshire. In Maine, lobster trapscan be removed with written permission of Maine43