((PKG)) GEAR GRAB
((TRT: 5:50))
((Topic Banner: Keeping Maine’s Waters Clean))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Linus Manchester))
((Map: Portland, Maine))
((Main characters: 1 female; 0 male))
((Sub-characters: 0 female; 1 male))
((Blurb:
Erin Pelletier, executive director of a Maine-based nonprofit, works with local lobstermen to remove abandoned fishing gear from the ocean.))
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
If we drained the ocean, I think people would be shocked to see what's down there.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Fishermen are stewards of the environment and they want to protect the fishing grounds that they make a living on.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
But with fishing gear, unfortunately, some of the risks are that it can get lost or cut off by other recreational boaters or storms can take it.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
I think that anything that doesn't belong in the ocean shouldn't be in the ocean.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
So when we started cleaning up marine debris out of the ocean, it was right up my alley.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
My name is Erin Pelletier. I’m the executive director of the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
We are a nonprofit. We've been around for about 20 years now, and we work with the fishing industry on different research projects that help sustain the fishery and the marine environment.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Fishermen have up to 800 traps that they set in different areas. They work really hard to make sure that they don't lose gear. But it does happen.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Gear Grab is one of our projects that kind of encompasses a bunch of different aspects of cleaning up derelict fishing gear, or ‘ghost gear.’
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Anything that we can give back to the fishermen, we do. And then, if it is in a condition where it's, you know, they don't want it anymore or it's just too old or mangled up, then we kind of upcycle it, if you will, and recycle it as much as possible.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
We've been in the range
((Photo Courtesy: Erin Pelletier))
of three to four tons of a mass that we can find and bring to the surface.
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The biggest one we've ever done is seven tons.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
We're targeting those big balls of gear because they're actually accumulating more ‘ghost gear’ by rolling around on the bottom. They’re like a big snowball. And so, if there's some gear here and some gear there, they're just going to get entangled in it and it's going to grow over time.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Our Gear Grab program started around 2011, and Jim actually participated in that one of the first years that we started doing that. He obviously seems very, very interested in this project and helping out because he's always out there on the water and he's always calling me with ideas.
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((Jim Buxton
Lobsterman & Diver, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
I started lobstering right around [19]93. With ‘ghost gear’, 20 years ago, no one thought about it. It's only recently that it's become a much more serious concern.
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((Photo Courtesy: Jim Buxton))
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
He probably tied that yellow buoy into what he found. And so now we'll be able to haul the yellow buoy, and that will be attached to the gear.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Pretty much there. Yeah.
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((Jim Buxton
Lobsterman & Diver, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
There we go.
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((Jim Buxton
Lobsterman & Diver, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
When Erin started making it possible for us to actually do something and dispose of it properly, it meant that I could sort of combine my abilities and experience diving and lobstering with, you know, something that was actually worth doing.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Part of why I really like this program is because you can see people feel good about it at the end of the day when they help, and they say, you know what? I'm glad we got this out of the water and let's do it again.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
The guys that work on the Gear Grab project with us are some of the most conscientious men I've ever met. They really, really want to help conserve the environment in which they make a living, and they know it's important for future generations.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
You have to find the right team to do this work, and I think we have a really great team and it's growing.
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((Jim Buxton
Lobsterman & Diver, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
The fishing gear is designed to catch and kill marine animals.
((Photo Courtesy: Jim Buxton))
But, busted-up fenders, dock lines, plastic bottles and stuff, those weren't designed to kill animals, but they do just as efficiently, right? And they don't deteriorate at all.
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((Jim Buxton
Lobsterman & Diver, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Our problem is a public education one, really.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
I think that people need to really start understanding their impact. What's affecting the ocean negatively that we can change about the way we live?
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
My hope is that, you know, a project like this is what kind of educates people and makes them more aware of what they can do.
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((Erin Pelletier
Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation))
Three quarters of this planet is the ocean, and so we really need to work together to keep it healthy.
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