68 Ghost Crab Pots Removed from the Water as Part of Ongoing Marine Debris Program
The New Jersey Clean Communities Council (NJCCC), a statewide, comprehensive, litter-abatement program, has awarded this year’s “Marine Debris Award” to the Greater Egg Harbor Watershed Association (GEHWA).
NJCCC Executive Director JoAnn Gemenden announced the award last month during the second-annual New Jersey Sustainability in Motion Conference in Atlantic City, which attracted hundreds of attendees from across the state.
The Marine Debris Program was launched in 2020 to address a large volume of debris in the watershed. GEHWA brought in a Stockton University intern, Brooke Handley, who worked alongside Fred Akers, the nonprofit’s administrator.
Together, they mapped marine debris and launched educational campaigns to prevent more litter from entering the watershed.
Handley used Google Earth Pro to search for abandoned boats, docks, and other large items, many of which had been there since Superstorm Sandy. The team then confirmed if the debris still existed through visual inspection.
During these surveys, GEHWA staff and volunteers removed smaller debris along the way. Then, an interactive online GIS map was created with the help of GIS specialist Matthew Duffy. GEHWA’s mission map includes the exact location and pictures of marine debris items that remain in the watershed in need of removal.
During the crabbing season, commercial and recreational crabbers deploy hundreds of large, baited metal crab pots to the bottom of the bay. If the float gets cut off, the sunken crab pot cannot be easily located, and then it becomes a Ghost Crab Pot. GEHWA contracted with Stockton to map out the locations of these ghost crab pots using side scan sonar technology. Through this effort, 68 ghost crab pots were removed from the Great Egg Harbor Watershed.
Learn more at NJClean.org or LitterFreeNJ.com
