This is Fritz writing today to tell you a little about my connection with CCS as well as what our future projects are going to entail. I was brought onboard the Marine Debris & Plastics program in January of this year as the program’s Operations Assistant. Living part time in Boston, the first couple months included getting to know the CCS team as well as discovering a love for the Provincetown off-season. We attended fishery conferences in Maine and Massachusetts, met with lawmakers and government officials, wrote proposals with other scientific institutions in New England, conducted beach cleanups with our wonderful Beach Brigade volunteers, and of course constantly worked to further strengthen our relationship with local fishermen. All of this was to ramp up for our ghost gear field season in the spring. Click Here to read Joanna Toole intern Wilson Haims’ account of what our ghost gear fieldwork is like.
At the very end of our field season this spring with the MA lobster season about to open, we received the go ahead to take a test run for grappling in Boston Harbor, an area the program had not worked in previously. I had made connections with a Winthrop fisherman at the MLA annual meeting who was keen on our project and interested in being involved. I set off with Dom Spinale on the F/V Bella Rose from the Winthrop Town Pier with our eyes set on an area known as “The Anchorage” where freighters and tanker ships anchor while either seeking refuge, or waiting for clearance to the Port of Boston. This area is infamous as a graveyard of fishing gear as any time a large ship anchors, it becomes wrapped up in any fixed gear that is nearby and that gear is then just cut back into the harbor as the ship hauls anchor.
Our efforts were fruitful, finding 28 lobster traps in just a few hours on the water! 25 of these traps were in good enough condition that we were able to return them to their owner. Massive fronds of Saccharina latissima (sugar kelp) were also coming up with the traps being hauled. Kelp is a known environmental indicator of a healthy harbor which is very exciting to see. Two days after our grappling, the lobster season opened for 2024 so our field work came to a close. Setting our sights on 2025, Boston Harbor is going to be a key focus for us as we continue the project of removing derelict fishing gear from our New England waters.
Thanks for reading,
– Fritz McGirr