The GEAR (Gear Extraction And Response) Team is a regional coalition made up of six organizations located throughout New England, all focused on removing and responsibly disposing of fishing gear debris.
Each organization specializes in a different aspect of fishing gear recovery or disposal in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Working collaboratively with the fishing industry, they have removed over 150 tons of debris from the marine environment – the ocean floor, island shorelines, coastal beaches and through voluntary gear collection – since the GEAR Team’s inception in 2024.
On September 1, the coalition launched a GEAR Team website www.gear-hub.org to centralize information about team efforts. The site will serve as a hub for interested parties to learn more about fishing gear marine debris issues and solutions.
The six organizations that comprise the GEAR Team are the Center for Coastal Studies Marine Debris & Plastics Program (Provincetown MA), the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation (Kennebunk ME), Oceans Wide (Newcastle ME), Blue Ocean Society (Portsmouth NH), Rozalia Project (Burlington VT) and Net Your Problem (New Bedford MA).