Removing Ghost Gear From Rhode Island Waters

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Rhode Island has an active commercial and recreational fishery, and fishermen have reported thousands of abandoned traps and piles of ghost gear near Rhode Island fishing ports and coastal waters. The CFRF recently mapped ghost gear locations using fishermen’s knowledge and underwater video cameras in Narragansett Bay, and this initial project revealed the extent of the problem. In Narragansett Bay, ghost gear is often caught in trawl nets and discarded at the end of trawl lines, damaging fishing nets and leaving piles of abandoned gear in channels. Other ghost gear hotspots in Rhode Island are located around islands popular to both commercial fishing and recreational boating and diving activities.

After mapping ghost gear hotspots, the CFRF then created a plan to remove ghost gear from Rhode Island waters, and the current project has begun to implement the plan. The plan includes the assistance and knowledge of commercial fishermen, local and international experts in ghost gear removal, and state regulatory agencies. This project trains fishermen to safely remove gear and combines best practices with local knowledge and skills. We began our first season of removal in winter and spring 2023 and removed over 4,000 pounds of ghost gear! We continued ghost gear removals in 2024, which brought the total ghost gear removed to over 10,000 pounds!