Ghosted: Federal funding for program ends
Retrieval and recycling of end-of-life ghost fishing gear at risk
Unless there is new funding in the 2024 federal budget, end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear collection and recycling services are at risk of shutting down across Atlantic Canada, warns the Fishing Gear Coalition of Atlantic Canada (FGCAC).
The coalition, an environmental not-for-profit organization, has set up more than 25 collection sites, including 15 in Nova Scotia, for diverting and recycling end-of-life fishing gear. With the FGCAC's main funding source – the Fisheries and Oceans Canada's Ghost Gear Fund – having ended March 31, the services are at risk.
“The collection and recycling of gear are in jeopardy due to the end of federal funding, with only a select few Nova Scotia collection sites able to accept materials until this summer," said Sonia Smith, co-executive director and stakeholder manager for the FGCAC in a media release.
"More than ever, Canada's fishing and aquaculture industries need effective and long-term circular economy initiatives to help re-think and improve how gear is designed, made, used, recovered, and recycled," she said. "The Fishing Gear Coalition of Atlantic Canada is searching for funding opportunities this April onward to continue and grow their collection and recycling services for end-oflife fishing and aquaculture gear."
Smith said collection sites that will be open for a few more months are in Shelburne, Barrington, Yarmouth, Clare, Digby, and Lunenburg. Fishing rope, PVC-coated wire lobster traps and steel crab pots are accepted. During the partnership with collection sites, tipping fees are waived.
The majority of sites the FGCAC is partnered with are municipal waste facilities. "They will accept the material, however, there will be tipping fees as we have no funding to cover the cost for the sites,” Smith said.
The FGCAC requires one more year of funding to transition their designed Product Stewardship Program to a Regulated Product Stewardship Program in at least Nova Scotia,” said Smith, adding they are reaching out to the provincial government and have an upcoming meeting with provincial Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Kent Smith.
The coalition has also created letters members can access; asking that they sign and forward them to the federal minister of fisheries.
SCALING BACK
Without funding, “we will have to scale back on large operations like island cleanups, where it is needed so badly, and heavy retrievals when we remove hundreds of broken lobster pots over a weekend,” said Angela Riley, founder of Scotian Shores. “Because we have so many amazing volunteers and passionate individuals, we believe we will be able to continue our small-scale and volunteer events.”
Lack of funding might also impact the amount of gear going to landfills. “We may not be able to divert as much debris because there are big costs involved,” said Riley.
"The programs will continue for rope recycling and trap recycling in Nova Scotia. But we still need funding to get the debris to the right place to be recycled," Riley said, noting many municipalities and counties have been supportive by waiving tipping fees.
"Clare municipality actually sends us their cute little dumpster trailer every time we do a cleanup. They haul it away for us too. Duffus and Digby Salvage and Disposal also try to assist where they can, providing us cost-free dumpsters for our big cleanups. In Barrington the Public Works Division is amazing and we have a few local fishers who are really helpful getting stuff to the landfill,” said Riley.
Rheana Drennan, Ghost Gear Project Lead for the Coastal Restoration Society (CRS), said without the fund – in both the Atlantic and Pacific – "this will put a halt to our retrieval efforts. To date, this fund has been the sole funding source for our work targeting abandoned, lost, and discarded fishing gear."
"We are working with regional partners such as the Fishing Gear Coalition of Atlantic Canada and their members to identify other funding sources and lobby the federal and provincial governments to continue funding ghost gear retrieval work,” Drennan said.
LAST YEAR'S WORK
Last year the CRS conducted a project that covered Lobster Fishing Areas (LFAs)
30, 33, 34, 35 and 26B. It was predominately focused in southwestern Nova Scotia, given that this region was impacted by Hurricane Fiona and DFO's lost gear report data showed the greatest concentrations here.
CRA worked with local Indigenous and community partners to refine, survey, and focus retrieval to priority areas. Conservation concerns were also factored in. While CRS had crews conducting surveys and retrievals in all LFAs, the Tusket islands in LFA 34 had such significant volumes of ghost gear that one or more crews were assigned
to them for the entire season from June to October.
The CRS collected 158,002.21 kg of ghost gear in Nova Scotia last year, including 3,550 lobster traps; 8,712.6 kg of rope (229,031.40 feet) and 3,111 buoys. Plastic waste weighed in at 1,088 kg and metal waste at 7,415.6 kg.
“In the absence of future ghost gear funds CRS will ... continue shoreline, aquaculture, derelict vessel, and other marine remediation projects that we receive funding for through other initiatives,” said Drennan, noting things would not have been possible without the collaborative effort of several partners.
"From conception to completion, CRS does not operate alone. With our
'First Nations, First Policy,' we commit to developing partnerships and offering all employment opportunities to our host First Nations territorial lands, on which the projects occur. Second, we believe that funding an economic opportunity should stay in those local communities impacted."
CRS sought out several local N.S. partners for planning, guidance, and technical and regulatory assistance.
While 2023 was the first year the CRS operated in Nova Scotia for the Ghost Gear Fund, CRS has supported past DFO projects involving tagging and tracking large commercial pelagic species, to support DFO in monitoring and management of fisheries in Atlantic Canada.
“CRS is eager to continue expanding the marine remediation sector on the East Coast and is actively engaged in future project planning and partnership development in the Region,” Drennan said.
GHOST GEAR ACTION PLAN
The Ghost Gear Fund was created in 2020 to assist in the retrieval and recycling of harmful ghost gear from the oceans. To date, the fund has funded 144 projects, for a total of $58.3 million, says Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).
“The Ghost Gear Fund was created to build foundational capacity in Canada to address the issues of abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear (ALDFG) that fall under the four pillars of the program, which include: retrieval, responsible disposal, acquisition and piloting of available technology, and international leadership," said Sasha-Gay Lobban, media relations spokesperson for Fisheries and Oceans Canada. "Through the Ghost Gear Fund, we were successful in supporting many important projects that will continue to have an impact."
Beyond the actions of the fund, the Ghost Gear Program has effectively mandated lost gear reporting and created a Fishing Gear Reporting System for harvesters to notify the department of lost and retrieved gear.
"The program has shown international leadership in sharing Canadian data on ADLFG, and strongly encourages other nations to prioritize this transboundary issue," Lobban said. "The program will begin to use the information gathered through the Ghost Gear Fund to inform the way forward, by developing new tools to prevent and reduce the amount of gear loss in Canadian fisheries and to create a Canadian Ghost Gear Action Plan for 2027.”
Since the Ghost Gear Fund launched in 2020, over 2,214 tonnes (or 35,329 units) of ALDFG (abandoned, lost discarded fishing gear) were removed from Canada's waters and more than 857 kilometres of rope. As a result of the program, more than 3,000 dedicated gear retrieval trips have occurred, said Lobban.
Without funding, “we will have to scale back on large operations like island cleanups, where it is needed so badly ...”
Angela Riley Founder, Scotian Shores