SHINE — A project that has pulled thousands of pounds of fish-killing derelict crab and shrimp pots and fishnets from Clallam County’s marine waterways comes for the first time to Jefferson County today.
Beginning this morning, divers working for Natural Resources Consultants Inc. of Seattle will pull two gillnets found near the boat ramp just north of Hood Canal Bridge, launching four days of tracking and attacking sea junk abandoned by crab, shrimp and net fishers.
The state Salmon Recovery Fund Board awarded Jefferson County Marine Resources Committee its first $30,000 grant for the work, which will give divers up about four days to pull derelict gear in this county.
The project is necessary, officials said, because crab, shrimp and fish are trapped and die in recreational and commercial pots lost at the bottoms of harbors and bays.
For example, Clallam County marine biologists reported last year that recreational and commercial crab and shrimp pots in waters between Freshwater and Sequim bays could possibly account for an annual mortality rate of 17,000 Dungeness crab.
Project supervisor
Jeff June, who supervised the 2003-2004 Clallam County gear removal projects, has also been hired to help conduct the project in Jefferson County.
June on Friday said the same boat used in Clallam County, owned by Doug Monk, will be used for Jefferson waters. A tribal and a non-tribal diver will walk the bottoms and help pull gear to the surface, he said.
The diving vessel sonar-surveyed Jefferson County waters in September, locating concentrations of lost gear.