ITN seeks to remove Ghost Pots from Womens Bay

ITN is raising funds for a new type of marine debris project--removal of derelict crab pots from the sea floor of Womens Bay.  

Scientists from the NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center in Kodiak presented a talk at the Kodiak Marine Science Symposium last spring with estimates that 6 - 12% of all king crab reared in Women's Bay are killed in "ghost-fishing" lost crab pots.  Further analysis of the data for a peer-reviewed journal article (in

preparation) indicates that the percentage may be up to 15% mortality.  This is a substantial number of king crabs and represents a severe environmental impact to the ecosystems of the bay and substantial subsistence and commercial loss to the human population of Kodiak.

This video clip provided by NOAA shows a lost dungeness crab pot containing 19 mature king crab in Womens Bay.  The pot had no biodegradable release, so the crab were doomed.  King crab are a depressed stock around Kodiak, and preservation of the broodstock is important to recovery of the crab population.  The presentation indicated that 65% of the lost pots in Women's Bay are capable of ghost fishing, so removal of those pots will likely have an immediate and long term positive effect.

Project partner Mark Blakeslee has been utilizing underwater technology work over the past 12 years or so, and  has 4 ROVs (remotely operated underwater vehicles), sonars, acoustic tracking capabilities, and a workboat from which to deploy this equipment (photos attached).  Having completed recovery operations for NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Lab (PMEL) and others to retrieve equipment off the ocean bottom in the Gulf of Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Bering Sea and Arctic Ocean he now turns his eye towards the waters of Kodiak to locate and retrieve the harmful ghost fishing crab pots.

Dr. Robert Foy, director of the NMFS Kodiak lab, has expressed support for the project and his staff is providing guidance on where the concentrations of derelict crab pots may be found.  We have also requested the NOAA survey ship Fairweather, while on patrol break in Kodiak this summer, to provide multibeam sonar and/or sidescan sonar mapping of Women's Bay to locate the pots.

ITN is request funding from the Marine Conservation Alliance Foundation, Ocean Foundation, Alaska Brewing Company and NOAA for the project.