A program to remove abandoned and lost fishing gear from Canada’s oceans has collected over 60 tonnes of old gear from the Atlantic coast in just the first year, according to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
The Ghost Gear Fund was launched in January, 2020, and has involved 26 projects so far.
“Estimates show that these funded projects, and others, have since removed 63 tonnes worth of lost or discarded fishing gear from coastal waters in Atlantic Canada in 2020,” the department said in a news release.
If you want a visual picture, that’s equivalent to the weight of 11 adult elephants, says the department.
Just over 3,200 metres of rope was collected. That's the length of 32 football fields.
The Ghost Gear project, with funding of $8.3 million, saw several groups in Atlantic Canada involved.
Ghost gear retrieval will resume in the region this spring, including the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and projects will also begin on the Pacific coast this year.
The Ghost Gear program will last until 2022.