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Transcript/ScriptCONNECT Gear Grab (TV)
HEADLINE: Removing Abandoned Fishing Gear from the Ocean
TEASER: Lobstermen team up with a non-profit foundation to cleanse the ocean of abandoned fishing gear
PUBLISHED AT: 09/25/2023
BYLINE: Linus Manchester
DATELINE: Portland, Maine
VIDEOGRAPHER: Linus Manchester
PRODUCER: Linus Manchester, Zdenko Novacki
COURTESIES:
SCRIPT EDITORS: AK, MJ
VIDEO SOURCE (S): VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO __
TRT: 3:00
VID APPROVED BY: AK, MJ
TYPE: VPKGF
EDITOR NOTES: ))
((Eds: This is a self-narrated feature.))
((INTRO))
[[Erin Pelletier, the executive director of the Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation, collaborates with local lobstermen to remove abandoned fishing gear from the ocean. She believes anything that doesn't belong in the sea should be removed, and her organization's Gear Grab program focuses on cleaning up the waters. Linus Manchester has more from Portland, Maine.]]
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) If we drained the ocean, I think people would be shocked to see what's down there.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) Fishermen are stewards of the environment, and they want to protect the fishing grounds that they make a living on.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) But with fishing gear, unfortunately, some of the risks are that it can get lost or cut off by other recreational boaters or storms can take it.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) I think that anything that doesn't belong in the ocean shouldn't be in the ocean.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) So when we started cleaning up marine debris out of the ocean, it was right up my alley.
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) Gear Grab is one of our projects that kind of encompasses a bunch of different aspects of cleaning up derelict fishing gear, or ‘ghost gear.’
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) Anything that we can give back to the fishermen, we do. And then, if it is in a condition where it's, you know, they don't want it anymore or it's just too old or mangled up, then we kind of upcycle it, if you will, and recycle it as much as possible.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) We've been in the range
((Photo Courtesy: Erin Pelletier))
of three to four tons of a mass that we can find and bring to the surface. The biggest one we've ever done is seven tons.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) We're targeting those big balls of gear because they're actually accumulating more ‘ghost gear’ by rolling around on the bottom. They’re like a big snowball. And so, if there's some gear here and some gear there, they're just going to get entangled in it and it's going to grow over time.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) Our Gear Grab program started around 2011, and Jim actually participated in that one of the first years that we started doing that. He obviously seems very, very interested in this project and helping out because he's always out there on the water and he's always calling me with ideas.
((Jim Buxton, Lobsterman & Diver, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) When Erin started making it possible for us to actually do something and dispose of it
properly, it meant that I could sort of combine my abilities and experience diving and lobstering with, you know, something that was actually worth doing.
The fishing gear is designed to catch and kill marine animals.
((Photo Courtesy: Jim Buxton))
But, busted-up fenders, dock lines, plastic bottles, and stuff, those weren't designed to kill animals, but they do just as efficiently, right? And they don't deteriorate at all. ((NATS))
((Jim Buxton, Lobsterman & Diver, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) Our problem is a public education one, really.
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) I think that people need to really start understanding their impact. What's affecting the ocean negatively that we can change about the way we live?
((NATS))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) My hope is that, you know, a project like this is what kind of educates people and makes them more aware of what they can do.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Erin Pelletier, Executive Director, Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation)) Three quarters of this planet is the ocean, and so we really need to work together to keep it healthy.
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)
Portland, Maine
Embargo DateSeptember 25, 2023 17:35 EDT
Byline
Linus Mancheste, VOA News
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - Africa, Voice of America - English
