Fishing nets abandoned in Puget Sound: Finding Solutions

When fishing nets are abandoned, they keep capturing fish, marine mammals and seabirds.  Decaying carcasses attract more scavangers  who get caught in the nets.  Small fish hide in the shadow of the nets, attracting larger predators who also get caught.  Modern nets don't decompose, so they keep killing wildlife for decades or even centuries unless they are removed from the water.

The Northwest Straits Initiative pioneered the large-scale removal of derelict nets in Puget Sound, and over the last several years have removed quite a large number of them.  But more remains to be done.

Finding Solutions: Derelict Fishing Gear Removal in Puget Sound from Sasha Horst on Vimeo.

This embedded video shows underwater footage of the destruction caused by the nets, and discusses various aspects of this issue.  Several more videos on the Northwest Straits web site show more detail of the animals caught in the net and of the gear removal process.  For more on this topic, see Application of Side Scan Sonar for the Detection of Derelict Fishing Gear on this site.