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Remote sensing Remote sensing may help to save coral reefs from the destructive effects of derelict fishing gear, according to Mary Donohue, National Marine Fisheries Service marine debris coordinator.
may help track nets
A marine conference
studies the problem of
old fishing gear
By Helen Altonn
Star-BulletinThe debris could be mapped by airplanes or satellites from chemical or reflective signatures, she said.
"If that happens, we're really going to see a revolution because all the resources now directed to search out nets, and it's considerable, can be used to pick up nets."
Use of remote sensing to deal with derelict fishing gear will be among topics discussed at an International Marine Debris Conference on Derelict Fishing Gear and the Ocean Environment next week.
The meetings will begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the Hawaii Convention Center with as many as 200 scientists and officials expected to attend.
Keynote speakers will be D. James Baker, undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Commerce, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and leader of the U.S. Coral Reef Task Force, and Jean Michel Cousteau, president, Ocean Futures Society, California.
Describing the scope of the problem Monday will be Cmdr. Rusty Brainard, science program coordinator and oceanographer, National Marine Fisheries Service and the NOAA Corps, Hawaii.
Other speakers will discuss the ecological impacts and economic costs of derelict gear, navigational hazards and public safety, international and domestic initiatives, monitoring and data collection and technological advancements.
Sen. Daniel Inouye will give a luncheon address on "Society's Role and Obligations as Stewards of the Ocean Environment."
Also expressing their concerns about marine debris issues will be the "Trash Busters" -- students from Hawaii, Yap, Chuk, Palau, Rota, Majuro, American Samoa and Alaska.
Donohue, who will discuss removal and mitigation efforts, said Hawaiian fishermen aren't responsible for most of the derelict gear.
Foreign and domestic trawl fisheries are the chief suspects, and every industrialized nation does such fishing, Donohue said. "That's why we need an international solution to this."
She said it is hoped that working groups at the conference will generate recommendations for concrete steps to address the problem, "which is huge."
More than 35 tons of derelict fishing nets have been removed from Hawaiian Archipelago reefs and shorelines, and an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 tons remain, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Seals, whales, dolphins, turtles, seabirds and other marine life become entangled in the gear and die.
Grounded fishing gear also damages coral reefs and other fish habitats and may upset the ecological balance.