Derelict fishing nets in Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits: patterns and threats to marine fauna.

Derelict fishing gear remains in the marine environment for years, entangling, and killing marine organisms worldwide. Since 2002, hundreds of derelict nets containing over 32,000 marine animals have been recovered from Washington's inland waters. Analysis of 870 gillnets found many were derelict for years; most were recovered from northern Puget Sound and high-relief rocky habitats and were relatively small, of recent construction, in good condition, stretched open, and in relatively shallow water. Marine organisms documented in recovered gillnets included 31,278 invertebrates (76 species), 1036 fishes (22 species), 514 birds (16 species), and 23 mammals (4 species); 56% of invertebrates, 93% of fish, and 100% of birds and mammals were dead when recovered. For all taxa, mortality was generally associated with gillnet effectiveness (total area, age and condition, and suspension in the water). Mortality from derelict fishing gear is underestimated at recovery and may be important for species of economic and conservation concern.

[1]  B. Morton.  Fishing perturbations and beached corals in the Cape d'Aguilar Marine Reserve, Hong Kong (2000-2002) and a summary of data obtained from January 1996 to March 2003. , 2005, Marine Pollution Bulletin.

[2]  G. Vauk,et al.  Records of entangled gannets (Sula bassana) at Helgoland, German Bight , 1987 .

[3]  D. Foley,et al.  REMOTE SENSING REVEALS LINKS AMONG THE ENDANGERED HAWAIIAN MONK SEAL, MARINE DEBRIS, AND EL NIÑO , 2007 .

[4]  M. Gaspar,et al.  An experimental study of gill net and trammel net 'ghost fishing' off the Algarve (southern Portugal) , 1997 .

[5]  David Dicks.  Puget Sound Action Agenda: Protecting and Restoring the Puget Sound Ecosystem by 2020 , 2009 .

[6]  J. Coe,et al.  Marine Debris: Sources, Impacts and Solutions , 1999 .

[7]  G. Sancho,et al.  Catch rates of monkfish (Lophius spp.) by lost tangle nets in the Cantabrian Sea (northern Spain) , 2003 .

[8]  P. Shaughnessy,et al.  Entanglement of Australian sea lions and New Zealand fur seals in lost fishing gear and other marine debris before and after Government and industry attempts to reduce the problem. , 2004, Marine pollution bulletin.

[9]  C. J. Camphuysen,et al.  The impacts of fishing on marine birds , 2000 .

[10]  A. Carr.  Impact of nondegradable marine debris on the ecology and survival outlook of sea turtles , 1987 .

[11]  Miguel B. Gaspar,et al.  Hake (Merluccius merluccius L., 1758) ghost fishing by gill nets off the Algarve (southern Portugal) , 2003 .

[12]  Scott D. Kraus,et al.  The impact of entanglements on two substocks of the western North Atlantic humpback whale, Megaptera novaeangliae , 1995 .

[13]  Michael Parke,et al.  Marine debris accumulation in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands: an examination of rates and processes. , 2007, Marine pollution bulletin.

[14]  P. B. Newman,et al.  Catches in \'ghost fishing\' set nets , 1996 .

[15]  T. Matsuoka,et al.  Ghost-fishing mortality and fish aggregation by lost bottom-gillnet tangled around fish aggregation device , 2005 .

[16]  G. Hofmeyr,et al.  Entanglement of pinnipeds at Marion Island , 2002 .

[17]  Raymond C. Boland,et al.  Derelict fishing gear in the northwestern Hawaiian Islands: diving surveys and debris removal in 1999 confirm threat to coral reef ecosystems. , 2001, Marine pollution bulletin.

[18]  T. Matsuoka,et al.  A review of ghost fishing: scientific approaches to evaluation and solutions , 2005, Fisheries Science.

[19]  T. Huntington,et al.  Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear , 2009 .

[20]  M. Donohue,et al.  Marine debris accumulation in the nearshore marine habitat of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal, Monachus schauinslandi 1999-2001. , 2003, Marine pollution bulletin.

[21]  D. Furevik,et al.  Catches of Greenland halibut (Reinhardtius hippoglossoides) in deepwater ghost-fishing gillnets on the Norwegian continental slope , 2003 .

[22]  D. W. Laist.  Impacts of Marine Debris: Entanglement of Marine Life in Marine Debris Including a Comprehensive List of Species with Entanglement and Ingestion Records , 1997 .

[23]  B. Stewart,et al.  Entanglement of pinnipeds in synthetic debris and fishing net and line fragments at San Nicolas and San Miguel Islands, California, 1978–1986 , 1987 .

[24]  A. Makhado,et al.  Entanglement Of Pinnipeds At Marion Island, SouthernOcean: 1991-2001 , 2002 .

[25]  J. Piatt,et al.  Incidental catch of marine birds and mammals in fishing nets off Newfoundland, Canada , 1987 .

[26]  Toshihiro Watanabe,et al.  Relationship between soak time and number of enmeshed animals in experimentally lost gill nets , 2007, Fisheries Science.

[27]  David J. Briggs,et al.  United Nations Environment Program.: Environmental data report (2nd ed.) Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989. 547 pp. £45.00 paperback , 1990 .