Central Coast fisher Mitch Sanders has received a $5,000 Environmental Grant from Sydney Fish Market to trial two products aimed at retrieving lost fishing gear from the region’s waterways.
The commercial fisherman, who works mainly off the coast at Terrigal, sells his catch to the fish market as well as to local retailers.
“Local fishers lose a fair amount of equipment,” he said.
“We get a lot of shipping these days and traps inadvertently get run over.
“It’s a problem most fishermen have.
“Traps can also be impacted by pleasure craft and whale entanglements.
“If a whale gets entangled a rope breaks to let the whale go free but then the trap is on the ocean bottom.
“We have mechanisms to get them back, but these new products will help us retrieve the traps much more easily.”
Sanders will use his grant to trial two products which aim to reduce gear loss and recover lost fishing gear: the RESQUNIT and Farallon buoys.
“It would be great to be able to get our gear back and put it back in use more quickly than previously,” he said.
“The RESQUNIT has an electronic buoy which can be attached to a trap and set to release after a certain number of days.
“If I notice a trap is missing I know that after a set number of days the buoy will rise to the surface and I can locate and re-set the net.
“The Farallon buoys allow gear to be tracked by satellite.”
Sanders hopes both pieces of equipment will reduce the length of delays in retrieving lost gear.
“The equipment has to come from interstate – once it arrives we will work out how to attach it in the best way,” he said.
“We will conduct trials in fairly shallow water so we can see how it works.
“Our gear is very expensive and this could allow us to retrieve it the very next day after it is lost.”
The annual grants program supports environmental initiatives in the fishing industry, with awards made on World Fisheries Day, November 21.
World Fisheries Day brings together fishing communities and highlights the ongoing innovation that ensures steady, sustainable seafood supply for future generations.
Abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) – often referred to as ‘ghost nets’ – is a problem that the Australian seafood industry is particularly passionate about combating.
The impacts of ALDFG include the unintended capture of target and non-target species, whale and other sea-life entanglements, the introduction of synthetic material into the marine food web and a variety of costs related to clean-up operations.
“Recent research has demonstrated that the strength and position of the East Australian Current significantly influences the likelihood of entanglement in set fishing gear,” Sanders said.
“If fishers can monitor the environmental conditions in real-time using Farallon buoys, it will be easier for them to implement operational practices to reduce sea-life entanglements and the subsequent loss of fishing gear in NSW.