Abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear (ALDFG), negatively impacts marine environments. Managing ALDFG in Atlantic Canada is challenging due to knowledge gaps on loss rates, locations, data availability/accuracy, impacts, and regulatory barriers for retrieval. This study removed ALDFG in Southwest Nova Scotia in collaboration with local fishers (with local knowledge and practical ALDFG removal expertise), government, non-profit organizations, and academia. A total of 29,298 kg of ALDFG was retrieved, including 24,630 kg using towed grapples covering ~3986 km of seafloor and 4668 kg from shorelines (comprising, 68 % lobster traps and 12 % dragger cable by weight). Traps ranged from <1 to 37 years old (median, 10 years). Traps continued to catch target and non-target species with 25 species released, including 652 individual lobsters (82 % were market-sized) and 57 fish (42 were species-at-risk). Based on estimated 2 % trap losses, annual commercial losses from ALDFG were $155,836 CAD in Lobster Fishing Area 34.
Keywords: American lobster; Benthic impacts; Ghost gear; Marine debris; Remediation; Species-at-risk.
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