389 



Abstract.— Sidescan sonar was used 

 to locate 189 putative lost crab pots in 

 a 4.5 km- area of Chiniak Bay. near 

 Kodiak, Alaska. Subsequent observa- 

 tions of 15 such objects by submersible 

 and ROV verified that they were indeed 

 crab pots. In 1995 and 1996, 147 pots 

 were recovered from the surveyed and 

 adjacent nonsurveyed areas by grap- 

 pling, and their condition and contents 

 were examined. Tanner crabs, Chio- 

 noecetes bairdi, were the most abun- 

 dant organism, with 227 found in 24 

 pots ( 16'^f frequency of occurrence ); sun- 

 flower sea stars iPycnopodia helian- 

 thoides) were the most frequent (A2'7r I 

 occupant and second most abundant 

 (189 in 62 pots). Octopuses iOctopux 

 dofleini) were significantly associated 

 with pots containing Tanner crabs. 

 Occurrence of crabs in pots was primar- 

 ily a function of background crab den- 

 sity and differed between the surveyed 

 and nonsurveyed areas. Recently lost 

 pots (< lyr old) had significantly more 

 male crabs, significantly larger male 

 crabs, and contained seven times more 

 total crabs than older pots (those lost 

 two or more years prior to recovery). 

 The proportion of pots with damaged 

 webbing increased with pot age, but 

 holes in pot webbing did not signifi- 

 cantly affect catch per pot. 



Ghost fishing by Tanner crab 

 (Chionoecetes bairdi) pots off Kodiak, 

 Alaska: pot density and catch per trap 

 as determined from sidescan sonar and 

 pot recovery data 



Bradley G. Stevens 



Alaska Fisheries Science Center 



National Manne Fishenes Service, NOAA 



301 Research Ct. 



Kodiak, Alaska 99615 



email address: bradley g slevensia noaa gov 



Ivan Vining 



Susie Byersdorfer 



Alaska Department of Fish and Game 

 211 Mission Road 

 Kodiak, Alaska 99615 



William Donaldson 



PO Box 271 



Dublin, New Hampshire 03444 



Manuscript accepted 18 November 1999. 

 Fish. Bull. 98:389-399 12000). 



Lost and derelict fishing gear is a 

 problem because of concerns about 

 aesthetics at sea, entanglement of 

 marine fauna, and ghost fishing by 

 the gear (Sheldon and Dow, 1975; 

 Smolowitz, 1978a; Breen, 1990). 

 Marine mammals, birds and rep- 

 tiles (Laist, 1996), nontargeted fish 

 and shellfish (Carr et. al., 1990), 

 and even boats ( Kirkley and McCon- 

 nell, 1997) have become entangled 

 in fishing gear. In this paper ghost 

 fishing is "the ability of fishing gear 

 to continue fishing after all control 

 of that gear is lost by the fish- 

 erman," as defined by Smolowitz 

 (1978a). 



Attempts to quantify the extent 

 and impacts of ghost fishing have met 

 with variable success (Sheldon and 

 Dow, 1975; Smolowitz. 1978b; High 

 andWorlund, 1979;Muiret al., 1984; 

 Breen, 1987; Parish and Kazama, 

 1992; Guillory, 1993). Parish and 

 Kazama ( 1992) concluded that ghost 

 fishing of Hawaiian spiny lobsters 



iPanulirus tuai-ginatus) was unim- 

 portant because the lobsters could 

 escape from pots easily. Conversely, 

 Sheldon and Dow (1975) estimated 

 that approximately one third of all 

 American lobsters (Homarus amer- 

 icaniis) entering lost pots would 

 perish. Other studies have identi- 

 fied ghost fishing as a concern or 

 possible problem and have identi- 

 fied potential solutions to reduce 

 resource loss (High, 1976; Pecci et 

 al., 1978; Smolowitz, 1978b; High 

 and Worlund, 1979; Carr and Harris, 

 1997). The impact of ghost fishing 

 by lost crab pots in Alaska waters 

 has been studied by High and Wor- 

 lund ( 1979), Kimker ( 1994), Stevens 

 ( 1996), Kruse and Kimker,' and Ste- 



' Ki-use, G. H. and A. Kjmker. 1993. De- 

 gradable escape mechanisms for pot gear: 

 a summary report to the Alaska Board 

 of Fisheries. Regional information report 

 5J93-01. Alaska Department of Fish and 

 Game (ADFG). 211 Mission Rd., Kodiak, 

 AK 99615, 23 p. 



