Tweet
I just spent a couple weeks poking around the east half of PWS and was astounded at the insane number of abandoned shrimp pots floating around. You can't hardly swing a dead humpie carcass without hitting a buoy ball out there! In the course of just two days of cruising around I came across four sets of pots. I pulled three of them (by hand, mind you), and then gave up, and started trying to ignore them when I spotted another one in my travels. Frankly, it's disgusting and dispiriting...and infuriating. IMO, AST should dedicate a Trooper to cruising PWS after the season closes, pick up all the abandoned gear, and the owners who couldn't be bothered to track down their lost or "stolen" gear should be fined $5000 for littering, and lose their fishing license. It would be a self funding / profit making operation for the AST.
This set of two pots was at the mouth of Eickelberg Bay. It belongs to one B. Pickett of Palmer. I left these in the custody of the Valdez Harbor Master until the AST wildlife Trooper returned to retrieve them. They had been in the water long enough for 1/2" mussels to grow on the buoy line. The welds on the frames were rusting out, but the netting was still intact and they had live fin fish in them, as well as the skeletal remains of dead fin fish.
This string of three was floating around in the Port of Valdez, and after becoming tired of passing them floating in different locations for several days in a row I pulled them too. The day I pulled them they had grounded out near the Narrows. They're now sitting at the high tide line between Shoup Bay and the Narrows. The ball was completely unmarked. The pots were completely closed up with zip ties, there were no rot out panels, and they were still fishing.
This set of two pots was at the mouth of Eickelberg Bay. It belongs to one B. Pickett of Palmer. I left these in the custody of the Valdez Harbor Master until the AST wildlife Trooper returned to retrieve them. They had been in the water long enough for 1/2" mussels to grow on the buoy line. The welds on the frames were rusting out, but the netting was still intact and they had live fin fish in them, as well as the skeletal remains of dead fin fish.
This string of three was floating around in the Port of Valdez, and after becoming tired of passing them floating in different locations for several days in a row I pulled them too. The day I pulled them they had grounded out near the Narrows. They're now sitting at the high tide line between Shoup Bay and the Narrows. The ball was completely unmarked. The pots were completely closed up with zip ties, there were no rot out panels, and they were still fishing.
Comment