ARLINGTON — Based on its efforts to rid Port Susan of abandoned crab pots and fishing nets, the Stillaguamish Tribe was invited to participate in the West Coast Governors’ Agreement on Ocean Health: Marine Debris Action Team.
Jennifer Sevigny, one of the tribe’s biologists, drafted the Washington state component for land-based marine debris.
“We are trying to develop a strategy for dealing with marine debris that will be presented to the governors of Washington, Oregon and California,” she said. “We are currently creating a database of land-based, ocean-based and derelict fishing gear projects and we will use that information to identify what is working and what data gaps exist for each state.”
In addition to establishing baseline estimates of marine debris and derelict gear off the West Coast and setting reduction goals, the Marine Debris Action Team will support state and federal policies for achieving the reduction goals, such as prevention through expanded recycling, improved trash maintenance, public education and enforcement of litter laws.
Studies estimate that more than 3,000 abandoned crab pots litter the waters of North Puget Sound. Pots left on the sea floor continue to trap crab and other species that die, becoming bait that lures more crab into the pots.
In 2003 and 2005, the Stillaguamish Tribe removed 333 abandoned crab pots from Port Susan, containing 952 live crab and the remains of countless dead crab. Last year, the tribe deployed 12 test pots in Port Susan, to determine the number of Dungeness crab killed per pot per year in a high density crab area. Preliminary data suggest that a single derelict crab pot kills an average of 44 Dungeness per year.
“Given the high numbers of derelict crab pots in Port Susan Bay, this is a huge impact on the resource and a form of unreported mortality that needs to be considered in Dungeness crab management efforts,” Sevigny said.
For more information on the action team, visit westcoastoceans.gov/teams/#debris.
Contact: Jennifer Sevigny, biologist, Stillaguamish Tribe, 360-631-2372 or ; Kari Neumeyer, information officer, NWIFC, 360-424-8226 or .
