APRIL 29, 2016--On April 23, NOAA Marine Debris Program staff participated in the WeCrab Marine Debris Project's Ghost Pot Prevention and Removal Community Day event.

Nearly 50 people including scientists, students, commercial crabbers, and local volunteers gathered at the Stockton University Field Station in Galloway, New Jersey to assess the condition of more than 400 derelict crab pots that were removed from NJ coastal estuaries in the winter of 2015-2016. Once volunteers recorded the condition and bycatch information, the pots were disassembled and sorted into component pieces to be recycled. NOAA’s Marine Debris Program is supporting the WeCrab Marine Debris Project along with two other coastal New Jersey derelict crab pot removal and prevention projects. The WeCrab Marine Debris Project is a partnership between the Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve and Stockton University, and compliments additional work being done with other grant partners including, Great Egg Harbor Watershed Association, Conserve Wildlife of New Jersey, Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science, and Monmouth University. These federally funded 2 year grants support locally driven, community-based marine debris prevention and removal projects that benefit New Jersey's coastal habitat, waterways, and wildlife.

For more information, contact Jason.Rolfe@noaa.gov.

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