101 
Effects of ghost fishing on the population of 
red king crab ( Parali th odes camtschaticus ) in 
Womens Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska 
Email address for contact author: chris.long@noaa.gov 
Resource Assessment and Conseivation Engineering Division 
Kodiak Laboratory 
Alaska Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Sen/ice, NOAA 
301 Research Court 
Kodiak, Alaska 99615 
Abstract— Ghost fishing, the capture 
and killing of marine organisms by 
lost or abandoned fishing gear, is 
a serious ecological and economic 
problem confronting fisheries. In this 
study, we quantify the rate of ghost 
fishing on the population of red king 
crab (Paralithodes camtschaticus ) in 
Womens Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska. 
From 1991 to 2008, crabs with cara- 
pace lengths (CLs) from 42 to 162 
mm were tagged with acoustic tags 
and tracked both from a boat at the 
surface and by divers. Diver observa- 
tions were used to determine whether 
a crab molted or died and, in many 
cases, to determine the cause of death. 
Of 192 crabs tracked during this study 
in association with other projects, 13 
were killed in ghostfishing gear (12 
in ghost crab pots and 1 in a ghost 
gill net) and 20 were captured in ghost 
pots and released alive by divers. An 
additional 13 died of other causes, in- 
cluding predation by sea otters and 
an octopus and poaching by humans. 
We estimate that between 16% and 
37% of the population of red king crab 
with CLs >60 mm in Womens Bay were 
killed by ghost fishing per year during 
the period of this study, making ghost 
fishing a substantial source of mortal- 
ity. These results indicate that steps to 
reduce ghost fishing in Womens Bay 
are warranted. 
Manuscript submitted 6 March 2013. 
Manuscript accepted 6 February 2014. 
Fish. Bull. 112:101-111 (2014). 
doi:10.7755/FB. 112.2-3.1 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
W. Christopher Long (contact author) 
Peter A. Cummiskey 
J. Eric Munk 
Ghost fishing is the capturing and 
killing of marine organisms by fish- 
ing gear that has been lost or aban- 
doned (Smolowitz, 1978) and is a seri- 
ous economic and ecological problem 
in fisheries around the world (Breen, 
1990; Laist, 1996; Matsuoka et ah, 
2005). Even after they are lost, nets 
can continue to entangle and kill or- 
ganisms (Kaiser et ah, 1996; Santos 
et al., 2003; Baeta et ah, 2009), and 
fish traps and crustacean pots can 
continue to attract, trap, and kill tar- 
get and nontarget species (Stevens et 
al., 2000; Hebert et al., 2001; Erzini 
et al., 2008; Ramirez-Rodriguez and 
Arreguin-Sanchez, 2008), such as 
reptiles, birds, and mammals (Ha- 
vens et al., 2008; Good et ah, 2009; 
2010). Dead animals in crab pots and 
fish nets can then act as bait to at- 
tract even more organisms (Havens 
et al., 2008). Although in some cases 
these effects are negligible, in many 
cases, depending on the type of gear 
and the environment (Gerrodette et 
al., 1990; Santos et al., 2003), ghost 
fishing represents a substantial eco- 
nomic loss to the fishery (e.g., Breen, 
1987). 
One of the major difficulties in the 
estimation of the effects of ghost fish- 
ing is the methods that are typically 
used. Many studies either recover 
lost gear and determine the number 
of organisms caught (e.g., Stevens et 
al., 2000) or deliberately “lose” and 
follow the gear over time (Bullimore 
et al., 2001). In both cases, however, 
extrapolation of the results to the 
population level with any certainty is 
difficult because of the many impor- 
tant factors that must be estimated 
on the basis of limited information, 
including the rate of gear loss, rate 
of gear decay, and population size of 
the study organism. In addition, ani- 
mals that escape may suffer delayed 
mortality in response to starvation 
during the captivity period (Paul et 
al., 1994), and this effect often is un- 
accounted for (e.g., Breen, 1987). 
In this study, we took the unique 
approach of tracking individuals in 
a population of red king crab (Para- 
lithodes camtschaticus ) over time 
and observed their fates by tagging 
them with acoustic tags and by mak- 
ing in situ observations during scuba 
diving. This work allowed us to cal- 
culate the mortality rate caused by 
ghost fishing at the population level 
independent of population size (e.g., 
Lambert et ah, 2006) and to compare 
it directly with other causes of mor- 
tality, such as predation. In addition, 
rather than focusing on one partic- 
ular type of gear, this approach in- 
cluded all types of ghostfishing gear 
that were catching red king crabs in 
the study area and allowed compari- 
sons among these gear. 
