The Department of Fisheries and Oceans says its Ghost Gear Fund removed 63 tons of lost fishing gear from the Atlantic Ocean in 2020 — equivalent to the weight of 11 elephants.
The Ghost Gear Fund is an $8.3-million initiative to fund several projects over two years, starting in 2020, to help remove lost or discarded fishing gear from Canada’s coastal waters.
A total of 26 projects were funded in 2020: 22 in Canada and four internationally.
Eighty per cent of the gear was found in the Bay of Fundy and coastal waters off Nova Scotia.
Lobster traps and crab pots made up 86 per cent of what was retrieved. The rest were nets and longline from various fisheries. More than three kilometres of rope was also retrieved.
The program also works to reunite lost fishing gear with its owner. So far, 101 pieces of marked gear have been claimed by harvesters.
