Here’s one solution to address the lobster shortage in Long Island Sound, courtesy of Captain’s Cove Seaport’s Bruce Williams who, like his father Kaye, knows all about the lobster trade. Bruce shares this nugget on his Facebook page.
Down at the liftwell at Captain’s Cove yesterday, Soundkeeper Bill Lucey helps to unload 60 “ghost” lobster traps recovered from the bottom of the Sound. It’s estimated that about one million of these abandoned traps lie in the Sound. They continue to catch lobsters, crabs and fish which then perish in the traps. Connecticut Soundkeeper, based here at the marina, is spearheading a federally funded effort to remove as many of these traps as possible.
… These are generally traps lost by commercial lobstermen. The lines connecting the traps to buoys on the surface are often severed by boat propellers making the traps on the bottom difficult to find and recover.
Bruce, thank you for providing information on the environment of our region, especially on a landscape, the bottom of Long Island Sound, that we cannot see or know without assistance.
Can you tell us where the estimate of 1 million traps comes from? What technology is used to locate the traps? What is the reward to a boatman doing severed trap discovery and retrieval? Where do the traps end up?
A wonderful season to all of your family for the vision and efforts put into making Bridgeport unique and relevant. Time will tell.