A pilot program this spring was so successful that the ghostbusters are planning a return trip in the fall to clean up abandoned crab traps – or ghost traps – that litter the floor of Tampa Bay, many still killing creatures including crabs, terrapin and fish.
“We got more than 100 lost traps in about six square miles going from just north of the Alafia to Pendola Point,” said Peter Clark, director of Tampa Bay Watch. “There are thousands of traps out there that have been accumulating for decades.”
Until recently, it was illegal to remove crab traps without an owner’s permission, but new regulations allow derelict traps to be removed under a state-approved plan.
The ghostbusters committee, which includes the Pinellas County Environmental Fund, Tampa Bay Estuary Program, the Ocean Conservancy and Tampa Bay Watch, is now recruiting volunteers with shallow-draft boats and aircraft. “We need pretty specialized volunteers for this effort,” Clark notes. A date for the second clean-up hasn’t been finalized as we go to press.
Article originally published Summer 2004.
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