‘Ghost’ Traps Claim Terrapins; Volunteers Work to Remove

STONE HARBOR MANOR – Wetlands Executive Director Lenore Tedesco used the Nov. 21 Stone Harbor Borough Council work session to educate officials on a Wetlands’ initiative to reduce the number of abandoned crab traps in the area. 
The traps, Tedesco said, pose a danger to aquatic life, especially the Diamondback terrapin. Turtles entering the traps are caught and will eventually drown since the abandoned traps are not regularly checked.
So-called ghost traps, as they are known, are blue crab traps capturing animals long after owners have abandoned them. 
Tedesco argued that they are also a danger to boats and aquatic animals. 
The Wetlands Institute has been active for years in trying to recover abandoned traps, often with the help of members of the public who stumble on them, note their location and alert the institute.
Each December, after crabbing season ends, the institute, with the help of numerous volunteers, launches boats and tries to locate and remove the traps.
This process continues through the winter months until about mid-March.
The threat such traps pose to Diamondback terrapins is significant. Cape May County and its municipalities have taken extraordinary steps to reduce the danger to the turtle on the roadways.
Recovering and removing the abandoned traps is another effort with the same conservation goal.
How Traps Work
Terrapins are attracted by the same bait, fish that are used to attract crabs into the trap. Turtles push their way into the traps to get the bait and become trapped.
Because terrapins are air breathers, they drown.
The institute’s website reports that tens of thousands of commercial crab traps are used in the state annually.
A proportion of those are not recovered by their owners at season’s end. Those become the ghost traps that continue to harm aquatic life long after their usefulness for blue crabbing is done.
Recognizing that crabbers have no desire to capture or harm terrapins, the Wetlands Institute has developed what its website calls “a simple, inexpensive and remarkably effective Bycatch Reduction Device.” 
These devices make it more difficult for terrapins to enter the traps but do not stop blue crab entry.
It is required that commercial crab traps are to be fitted with some form of a device designed to exclude Diamondback terrapins.
Ongoing Effort
The Wetlands Institute is one of many organizations involved with locating and removing derelict crab traps.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has funded a project near Ocean City in which Stockton University researchers have reported removing over 1,000 derelict traps.
Abandoned traps are harmful to the fishing industry when they trap otherwise harvestable crabs, thereby reducing the population available in the annual crab season.
Combining the efforts to locate and remove the ghost traps with education efforts and ongoing research lets organizations like the Wetlands Institute continue to make the coastal areas safer for terrapins.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.