image: Crew members recover a ghost trap from the Chesapeake Bay.
Credit: Jordan Salafie, Oyster Recovery Partnership
Lurking in the waters along our shorelines, a haunting presence is luring marine life to their untimely demise and trapping their spirits in an underwater purgatory. This isn’t the plot of a new Halloween blockbuster, it’s the unfortunate impact of derelict fishing equipment commonly known as “ghost traps.”
William & Mary’s Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences & VIMS has awarded $1.8 million to 13 organizations throughout the U.S. focused on the removal of derelict fishing gear, which poses a significant threat to the sustainability of coastal and marine environments and the fishing industries from which they originate. This is the second year of subawards distributed through the National Fishing Trap Removal, Assessment and Prevention (TRAP) Program.
A scientific solution for a ghoulish problem
In the United States, commercial trap fisheries generate over $1 billion in annual revenue from seafood sales, referred to as landings. Each year, traps are lost due to vessel-gear interactions, storms and gear degradation. These “ghost traps” become inaccessible to fishermen but continue to function, resulting in mortality of both target and non-target species, habitat damage and reduced fishery landings. A 2016 report found that removing just 10% of derelict crab pots and lobster traps could result in an additional $831 million in global landings annually.
In 2023, the Batten School & VIMS was the recipient of an $8 million, four-year grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Marine Debris Program to administer the National TRAP Program. In addition to distributing approximately $1.5 million annually to fund regional cleanup efforts, the program has established a standardized national database to evaluate the environmental and economic benefits of the removal efforts and to inform future policies.
In its first year of funding, the TRAP Program awarded over $1.4 million to fund 11 projects. So far, the efforts have resulted in the removal of over 7,000 derelict traps totaling more than 300,000 pounds of debris. A number of projects are still recovering derelict traps, and removals in Louisiana are set to begin in February. Many other regional success stories have surfaced from these efforts.
“We are thrilled with the initial results from our inaugural TRAP Program recipients. Their success is a testament to the impact that locally-designed solutions can have on global issues,” said Kirk Havens, director of the Batten School & VIMS Center for Coastal Resources Management, which administers the TRAP Program under the direction of co-principal investigators Professor Donna Bilkovic and Associate Professor Andrew Scheld. “Our second round of recipients have demonstrated that same creativity, thoughtfulness and local community engagement in their project proposals, and we are proud to support them as they work for the benefit of their communities and marine ecosystems.”
This year, $1.8 million in grant funding will be distributed across 13 projects in Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Maryland, South Carolina, Florida, Washington and California. Recipients anticipate the removal of over 8,000 ghost traps and the creation of 195 jobs, mostly for commercial fishers.
Funding recipients will begin their cleanup efforts in January 2026 and will be required to submit standardized data on their progress. The data will be analyzed by the Policy Innovation Lab, a partnership between the Batten School & VIMS and the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, to explore drivers of derelict trap abundance, bycatch, and other ecological or economic variables. This information will help inform state and federal policy recommendations to improve derelict trap prevention and mitigation.
Visit the National TRAP Program website for additional information and statistics from first-round projects.
Who you gonna call? Ghost (trap) Busters!
The following projects were selected for funding through a national competitive grant process administered by the Batten School & VIMS:
- Hill Fisheries LTD received $148,622 to remove abandoned and derelict lobster traps in the Cape Ann area and its surrounding islands in Massachusetts. Removal of ghost fishing gear addresses a contributing factor to recent declines in the lobster catch rate. The derelict gear also poses an entanglement risk to marine species, including the endangered North Atlantic right whale.
- University of California, Santa Barbara was awarded $116,433 to identify and remove lost spiny lobster traps from ecologically-sensitive areas in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. Removal efforts will be undertaken alongside collaborators in the National Park Service and the recreational dive industry. Lost traps will be identified and marked through SCUBA surveys and then removed. Data will be collected to inform fishery management practices and recovered traps will be returned to local fishers.
- A total of $125,493 was awarded to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to address ghost traps in four estuarine areas of South Carolina - Calibogue Sound, ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve, and the urbanized watersheds of Charleston and Cape Romain. This effort will comprehensively map 64 square kilometers of major waterways within the estuaries to identify and remove derelict traps.
- Ocean Aid 360 was awarded $150,000 to mobilize commercial fishers alongside dedicated trap data collectors, volunteer coastal residents, and local watershed groups to detect and remove derelict traps. This intervention will include a robust pre-event survey and post-removal monitoring component to measure natural resources and economic benefits of the removal efforts.
- The Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation received $133,172 to remove ghost traps in Narragansett Bay target areas utilizing side-scan sonar equipment. By combining the survey results with those conducted in 2023 and 2025, the project team will estimate the rate and location of reaccumulating derelict traps in the Bay to inform removal activities.
- The Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation was awarded $140,448 to remove derelict crab traps from the coastal beaches and nearshore waters of Taa-laa-waa-dvn in the Pacific Northwest, restoring marine and intertidal habitats critical to native species. Tolowa Dee-ni’ Nation staff will coordinate on trap removal, repurposing or recycling material when possible.
- Oyster Recovery Partnership was granted $147,571 to remove derelict blue crab traps from Anne Arundel County waters in the Chesapeake Bay using side-scan sonar imagery. The project team will target high-density zones near the mouths of the Severn, South and Rhode Rivers. By engaging local watermen, the project will provide off-season income and opportunities to recycle and reuse commercial gear.
- A total of $149,168 was awarded to Rutgers University to remove derelict crab traps and pilot recycling and prevention strategies from New Jersey waters within the Delaware Bay and in partnership with Stockton University. Side-scan sonar will be used to locate derelict traps in three focus areas and in collaboration with commercial crabbers. Funds generated from the recycling of recovered traps will be reinvested to further support prevention strategies.
- The Northwest Straits Foundation was awarded $150,000 to conduct a crab trap removal and prevention project in the Olympic Peninsula’s Port Angeles Harbor and Sequim Bay. Removal operations intend to clear approximately 3,980 acres of marine debris. Results of the project will be presented to the community and used to inform the outreach activities of local organizations.
- OceansWide received $135,751 to locate, characterize, and remove abandoned, lost, or otherwise discarded fishing gear in Midcoast Maine. They will focus on large aggregations of lobster traps known colloquially as “gear balls,” using a specialized grapple that will be fabricated for the project. OceansWide will work with lobster fishermen to locate high-priority gear balls that pose the biggest risk to fishing and navigation in the Midcoast Maine region.
- The City of Beverly, Massachusetts received $124,700 to support the removal of derelict lobster traps from Beverly Harbor using SCUBA-based recovery methods. Operations will be led by the Beverly Harbormaster Department in partnership with a coalition of regional stakeholders, including commercial fishermen, environmental organizations, and local dive professionals.
- The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation was awarded $146,553 to remove derelict traps from the coastal waterways of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Surveys will be conducted to locate and remove traps using SCUBA-based methods that allow for the extraction of traps otherwise inaccessible from the surface. Data collected will support informed decision-making of critical marine habitat.
- The Gulf of Maine Lobster Foundation received $149,980 to utilize experiential knowledge and existing resources of rural Maine fishermen to target, remove, document and synthesize data surrounding the loss and impacts of derelict fishery gear in rural Maine waterways. Mapping of qualitative and quantitative data will highlight the cost and time efficiency of gear removal by active fishermen.