Some 50,000 pounds of lost fishing gear was removed from the waters around Newfoundland and Labrador thanks to a project made possible through DFO’s Ghost Gear Fund.
Executive Director of the Canadian Centre for Fisheries Innovation, Keith Hutchings, says the bulk of the gear retrieved over the last year came as the result of damage caused by Hurricane Fiona in the fall of 2022.
The crew aboard the Ludy Pudluck with the side scan sonar before departing for the southwest coast. Pictured (left to right): Katie Cousens, Narcissus Walsh, Philip Walsh, and Kirk Regular.
He says the centre and partners employed side scan sonar technology to locate lost gear and with the help of the Ludy Pudluck, an ROV and commercial diver, were able to remove it from the water.
Once retrieved, Hutchings says the challenge was to ensure that the gear didn’t just end up in landfills.
They worked with the Atlantic Healthy Oceans Initiative out of Gros Morne in helping to sort through retrieved gear and seeing what could be recycled.
In some cases, gear that was identified and not too badly damaged, was able to be reunited with its owner.
