The steel pots — galvanized, vinyl- 

 dipped and uncoated — all went into 

 the pile for meltdown and reuse by 

 local scrap steel dealers. 



This project diverted a small 

 percentage of gear overall, but it was a 

 promising beginning. Local fish 

 houses, seafood dealers, a netmaker 

 and other community businesses 

 volunteered space on their properties 

 for drop-off sites. Local waste haulers 

 donated their services. Sea Grant staff 

 coordinated logistics and publicity. A 

 fishing association — the N.C. Crab- 

 bers League of Aware Watermen 

 (CLAW) — also helped get the word 

 out. Most of the participants expressed 



1990, says Fran Recht, manager of 

 habitat education for the Pacific States 

 Marine Fisheries Commission. Not to 

 mention the tons of metal and cardboard 

 recycled at many Northwest ports each 

 year and the wood and nets made 

 available for reuse. 



The effort to collect gear in the 

 Northwest began in 1987 in Newport, 

 Ore., with financial support from NMFS 

 and direction by Recht. It has continued 

 in other ports of Alaska and Washing- 

 ton. Nylon nets from Cordova, Alaska, 

 and surrounding ports in the region are 

 baled and marketed overseas, where 

 they are melted down and become 

 bicycle seats, auto parts, kitchen 



Sea Grant agent Bob Hines inspects webbing collected in Oriental. 



a strong desire to continue the program 

 next year. 



"A lot of people hadn't been aware 

 of it early enough this year," says 

 Phillips. "Now that there is a history, 

 people will be thinking ahead and 

 waiting for the pickup times to roll 

 around again, and participation will 

 just get better and better." 



Sea Grant is planning a summer 

 meeting to assess the strengths and 

 weaknesses of the program and to plan 

 for 1996. 



The collection and recycling of 

 fishing gear has become business as 

 usual in other regions of the country. 

 In the more centralized ports of the 

 Northwestern United States, close to 

 300,000 pounds of nylon fishing nets 

 have been collected and recycled since 



utensils and electronic components. 



NMFS assists between 15 and 20 

 U.S. fishing ports in similar efforts, 

 including areas of the Gulf and the 

 Northeast, says James Coe, director 

 of NMFS' Marine Entanglement 

 Research Program, which also functions 

 as the marine debris program of the 

 National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration. 



The emphasis on marine debris 

 stemmed from the entanglement of 

 marine mammals in stray nets and 

 other plastics dumped or lost in the 

 water, Coe says. "But it was also from 

 some concern over birds, lobsters and 

 crabs and the problems associated 

 with ghost fishing and destruction of 

 a living resource. 



"Early on, it became clear that if 



the fishing industry was going to be 

 returning refuse to port for disposal, it 

 was going to have to have a place to put 

 it," says Coe. "We wanted to help the 

 ports and the fishermen work together 

 to deal with this problem." 



Coordinators have successfully 

 nurtured programs throughout the 

 country that have taken on a life of 

 their own. 



"They seem to be able to continue 

 to operate even after the initial volun- 

 tary thrill is gone," Coe says. "But it 

 takes some dedicated people, and it 

 takes some money. This is not a flash in 

 the pan. It's a necessary adjustment 

 toward more sustainable resource and 

 coastal zone management." 



Coordination was difficult among 

 the small ports and docks scattered 

 along North Carolina's numerous creeks 

 and estuaries. But it appears that the 

 fishermen, community businesses and 

 agencies involved in this first attempt 

 are encouraged enough to keep on 

 plugging. 



Businesses that participated as 

 collection sites included Hopkins 

 Seafood, Belhaven; Etles Henries 

 Seafood, South Creek; Luther Smith & 

 Son Seafood, Atlantic; South River 

 Seafood and Thomas Seafood, Beaufort; 

 Nixon Seafood, Edenton; Currituck 

 Crab, Currituck; Colington Crab, 

 Colington; Trinity Seafood, Stumpy 

 Point; Wanchese Seafood Park, 

 Wanchese; Johnson Fishery, Engelhard; 

 Jarvis Seafood, Swan Quarter; New 

 River Net Co., Sneads Ferry; Jack 

 Williams' Crab House, Arapahoe; R.E. 

 Mayo Co. Inc., Hobucken; and Garland 

 Fulcher Seafood Co. Inc., Oriental. 



A slate of local waste haulers also 

 teamed up to make the effort possible. 

 They included: Waste Industries Inc., 

 Newport and Elizabeth City; Smithton 

 Sanitation Inc., Washington; BFI Inc., 

 Kinston; Reliable Disposal, Edenton; 

 Dare County Public Works, Manteo; 

 Waste Management of Hampton Roads, 

 Chesapeake, Va.; American Refuse 

 System Inc., New Bern; Albemarle 

 Solid Waste Authority, Belvidere; and 

 Coastal Regional Solid Waste Author- 

 ity, New Bern. □ 



COASTWATCH 23 



