Fishermen swap crab fishing for cleanup, retrieving hundreds of lost crab pots from waterways

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WWAY-TV) — Local fishing crews are taking to regional waterways this week to retrieve lost fishing gear and crab pots. The North Carolina Coastal Federation said abandoned gear can pose a great threat to the environment and boaters.

“We just do what we normally do except were not coming back to the dock with anything to eat,” said Joe Romano.

For the past three days, Romano, a local commercial fisherman and co-founder of Seaview Crab Company, has traded in his love for catching crabs–for fishing up lost marine debris.

“This our way of cleaning up the area that we work,” said Romano.

Romano’s crew is among five others partnering with the Federation to find lost fishing gear, such as abandoned crab pots, which can be lost for a variety reasons, including being buried in the marsh.

“The threat is especially with crab pots is that the crab pots can continue fishing,” said Ted Wilgis.

Wilgis, marine debris program director for the Federation said this lost gear can pose threats to boaters, wildlife and the fishing community.

“If they get washed up in the marsh, they can kill the marsh grass, you can have birds get in them and so anything we can do to get those pots out of the environment is important,” said Wilgis.

Last year, crews removed more than 280 pots in just a few days. Romano’s crew has already found 65 since they started on Wednesday.

For fishermen like Romano, the work also provides a paycheck wile internal coastal fishing waters, such as rivers and sounds, are closed for crabbing until mid-March.

“We’re not just out here making a living today, we’re actually cleaning up where we work,” said Romano.

Wilgis said fishermen are paid around $600 a day to go out and retrieve the debris.

“They know where the crab pots will end up, they know where people are fishing for crabs, they know where the pots have been when the season is open,” said Wilgis.

Wilgis said when the season is open, fishermen should be keeping their crab pots tagged so they can be returned.

“You know these pots are expensive, I think a new pot all rigged up is somewhere between $50 and $60, so the crabbers don’t want to lose them,” said Wilgis.

If these pots are not tagged?

“It goes into the dumpster right here, everything we get is going to get tossed away unless it’s a useable pot with an identification on it,” said Romano.

Romano encourages other fishermen to get involved in keeping these waterways clean.

“A lot of people moving to the coast and understanding that no one person owns the water, we all share it,” said Romano.