No more 'ghost nets' in Kitsap County waters

BREMERTON — Seven underwater areas in Kitsap County have been cleared of more than 400 abandoned "ghost nets," using federal stimulus dollars, officials say.

Four full-time dive boats, hired by the Northwest Straits Initiative, continue to work throughout Puget Sound and other inland waterways to remove up to 3,000 lost nets, which continue to kill fish, birds and marine mammals, according to Ginny Broadhurst, director of the program.

Meanwhile, other efforts are being launched by the Legislature to recover abandoned crab pots and to look for ways to prevent fishing nets from becoming a problem again.

Broadhurst said her organization has removed more than 1,200 nets since last summer, and the program remains on track to clear 90 percent of all the nets by the end of this year. This week, Broadhurst announced that all the nets have been cleared from 13 areas — including seven in Kitsap County and two in Jefferson County.

"It's great to see a significant number of sites in Puget Sound fully clean of dangerous derelict nets," she said. "I think we did a good job of estimating the scale of this project, and we are seeing the kind of results we thought we would."

The greatest number of nets — 194 — were pulled from waters about a quarter-mile off Kingston's Point Jefferson, according to Jeff June of Natural Resources Consultants, who directs field operations for the project. The nets were found snagged and wrapped around 4-foot-tall pilings sticking up from the bottom of the channel, he said.

The site of the accumulation is an old Navy degaussing station, used to demagnetize ships during World War II. When the site was abandoned, divers apparently cut the pilings off at waist height, he said. In addition to commercial fishing nets, divers found all sorts of sport-fishing gear, along with World War II artifacts dropped overboard by Navy crews.

The Northwest Straits Initiative is funded by a $4.6 million grant through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The project has created 30 jobs, ranging from biologists to boat operators to divers, according to Broadhurst.

Many of the nets have been entangling marine life since the 1970s, June said, but new gear is being abandoned all the time. Blakely Rock off Bainbridge Island had five nets, including a fairly new one discovered by a novice diver.

June said newly lost nets are especially dangerous, because they are not as tightly wrapped around underwater obstructions. Nets that create a safety hazard for divers are the highest priority for removal.

"Scuba divers have a limited air supply and could run out of air before they get untangled," June said.

Because nets are still being lost, some officials are looking for ways to keep Puget Sound free of nets into the future. The state has a "no fault" program, in which anyone who loses a fishing net may report the location and allow folks like June to remove the net.

Some officials are discussing legislation for next year that would require the owner's identification at the bottom of their nets. If a fisherman reports a lost net, he would have no liability. But if he fails to report the lost net, the state would go after him to recover the cost of removal.

State Rep. Christine Rolfes, D-Bainbridge Island, said she could support that kind of effort to reduce the derelict fishing-net problem.

Rolfes is the sponsor of a bill this year to recover lost crab pots through a trial program in Puget Sound. Interested parties will be given special permits to take crab gear left in the water after the close of crab season. They would be allowed to sell or salvage the crab pots.

A similar program was authorized last year for the Dungeness crab fishery off the Washington coast, and Rolfes wanted it expanded to inland waters. Her bill, House Bill 2593, was overwhelmingly approved by both the House and Senate.

Under the bill, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife would set up the program for limited areas of Puget Sound. Details are to be worked out by the agency. If successful, the program could be expanded to all inland waterways.

An estimated 12,000 crab pots are lost each year, according to state figures. Each abandoned crab pot catches an average of 30 crabs. About 52 percent of the lost pots come from recreational fishermen, with 48 percent from commercial operators.

Rolfes' bill also includes a provision that makes it a criminal offense for anyone involved in crab or shrimp fishing to use illegal pots, especially those that don't allow for escapement of marine life. Violators of the rules in the recreational fishery could get up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Those in the commercial fishery could get up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

One of the key requirements for legal crab pots is an escape hatch tied closed with cotton line. The line has specific characteristics that allow it to decay in a short time. Educating people about the need to use the appropriate cord is critical, Rolfes said. In the future, the state may need to certify specific cord to be used.

Rolfes said the Department of Fish and Wildlife will be allowed to use a special crab-enhancement fund to operate the program.

By the end of this year, agency officials are required to identify the scope of the derelict crab-pot problem and make recommendations for future funding and legislation.