#Ufish traps free#
Weak links and breakaway lines are fishing gear modifications that can minimize injury and mortality by allowing the animal to break free from the gear and reach the surface to swim away with minimal trailing lines. Bycatch ReductionĬulling rings may be added to a section of a trap or pot to allow undersized animals to escape, but this approach does not minimize injury to marine mammals or turtles. If the traps are weighted down, entangled whales and dolphins can drown if they cannot reach the surface to breathe. The effects of entanglement can range from no permanent injury to serious injury and death. Large whales, including endangered North Atlantic right whales, humpback whales, fin whales, and grey whales, are particularly susceptible to becoming entangled in trap or pot gear due to spatial overlap with fisheries and their feeding behavior. Large or small cetaceans can become entangled around their bodies and fins, leaving lacerations that can lead to infection. The lines connecting traps to each other (groundlines) or to the surface buoy (vertical lines) can entangle marine mammals. However, these depredation attempts do not commonly lead to injury or entrapment.
Some fishermen attribute broken or disfigured pots and traps to sea turtles that have attempted to eat the bait or catch inside. If traps are heavily weighted, turtles can drown because they cannot reach the surface to breathe. The vertical lines running from the trap to the surface buoy can entangle sea turtles, particularly leatherback turtles, around the flippers, neck, or carapace. Target Speciesīottom-dwelling crustaceans and mollusks: Gear size, configuration, and hazards to protected species differ depending on target species. Traps can be set individually or in a long continuous series, called trawls, at depths up to 2,400 feet (730 meters). Most traps are attached by a rope to a buoy on the surface of the water. Traps and pots are submerged three-dimensional wire or wood devices that permit organisms to enter the enclosure but make escape extremely difficult or impossible.īait is commonly secured in the trap to lure organisms inside, where they wait until fishermen return to retrieve the catch and re-bait the traps.
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