Derelict Gear - Impacts of derelict fishing gear on marine fauna in Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits

Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits have experienced a long history of commercial fishing activity. Although much of this fishing activity no longer takes place, there remains lost and abandoned fishing gear throughout Puget Sound and the Northwest Straits. Derelict gear has the potential to impact marine fauna through entanglement and trapping. Collaborative work of federal, state and tribal agencies with local and regional non-governmental agencies, specifically the Northwest Straits Foundation, has recovered thousands of derelict nets and pots since 2002 and documented their impacts on marine fauna, many of which are of commercial and/or conservation concern.
Marine fauna.