Ecological and Economic Effects of Derelict Fishing Gear in the Chesapeake Bay 2015/2016 Final Assessment Report
Bilkovic, Donna M. Slacum, H. Ward Havens, Kirk J. Zaveta, Danielle Jeffrey, Christopher F.G. Scheld, Andrew M. Stanhope, David Angstadt, Kory Evans, John D.
Bilkovic, Donna M.
Slacum, H. Ward
Havens, Kirk J.
Zaveta, Danielle
Jeffrey, Christopher F.G.
Scheld, Andrew M.
Stanhope, David
Angstadt, Kory
Evans, John D.
Abstract
Derelict fishing gear represents a major challenge to marine resource management: whether through deliberate abandonment or through accidental loss, derelict traps in particular have significant negative effects both economic (e.g., reduced fishery harvest from ghost fishing and gear competition that leads to the reduced efficiency of active gear) and ecological (e.g., degraded habitats and marine food webs and crab and bycatch mortality). Throughout the Chesapeake Bay, commercial harvest of hard-shelled blue crabs is a major fishing activity: every year sees the deployment of several hundred thousand blue crab traps (known locally as crab “pots”) across the Bay, of which an estimated 12-20% are lost each year. This report focuses on these derelict crab pots, drawing on many direct or remote observations and other data to quantify their abundance and spatial distribution across the Chesapeake Bay, and their resulting ecological and economic effects.
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Date
2016-10-07
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Embargo
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CCRM Research and Reports
Fisheries Science
Research and Technical Reports
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Virginia Institute of Marine Science