Ghost gear, shoreline clean-ups net almost half a million pounds in southwestern Nova Scotia in 2023
SOUTH SHORE – Nearly half-a-million pounds of marine debris was removed from coastal shores and islands in southwestern Nova Scotia last year through the efforts of Scotian Shores, the Coastal Restoration Society, volunteers, and community support.
“2023 was a year to remember,” said Scotian Shores founder Angela Riley in a Facebook post. “We made so many new friends, cleaned in places we’ve never cleaned before, and continued to work on projects and challenges around the province. We also found new places to go and learned new ways to get things done.”
Scotian Shores recorded 1,731 cleanups in 2023, logging the removal of 604,065.15 pounds throughout Nova Scotia. Of that, solo or small group cleanups collected 153,041 pounds. Another 211,140.2 pounds was collected during scheduled group cleanups, and 239,835.65 pounds was collected by the Coastal Restoration Society.
In southwestern N.S, removed by county:
- Yarmouth County: 280,000 pounds
- Digby County: 64,000 pounds
- Shelburne County: 137,000 pounds
In 2023, “there was a huge amount of money that came into the Maritimes because of the ghost gear fund for Fiona clean up, which is part of the reason why we’re seeing the bigger number,” said Riley in an interview.
In addition to Ocean Warrior volunteers and their volunteer events, Scotian Shores worked with B.C.-based Coastal Restoration Society, which received $5.5 million to work in Atlantic Canada for the first time in collaboration with First Nations and commercial fishing industry partners.
Scotian Shores did data for the society, identifying where garbage was accumulated and harder-to-get-to areas.
“They were able to remove about 240,000 pounds (in southwestern Nova Scotia) with our help,” said Riley.
With air support from Breton Air, a lot of work happened in isolated areas of the Tusket Islands in Yarmouth County, as well as Digby Neck.
For Scotian Shores the Cape Retrieval project “was a huge project” in 2023, with numerous volunteers removing 85,000 pounds of marine debris from the Shelburne County island with the help of the Breton Air helicopter.
“I’m hoping to get back to the Cape,” said Riley. “I’ve got my eyes set on some other islands like Outer Island (Bon Portage) and I’ve been asked to go to Seal Island, but that’s quite far. We really want to do more islands. We visited one of the Tusket Islands this summer and it was horrific. It was so dirty.”
Since founded in 2020, Scotian Shores is just 13,000 pounds away from a million pounds of marine debris collected.
“Where we’ve done so many cleanups it’s harder to get to the garbage now. It’s more isolated, harder to hike into. We are figuring out other ways to get into those areas,” Riley said.
A lot of what Scotian Shores collects is older stuff, but new stuff washes ashore in storms. Lobster traps top the list of marine debris.
Still, gains are being made.
“Usually, the Bay of Fundy is just hammered by now, but it’s not,” said Riley. “There’s still garbage coming in, but significantly less is washing ashore. I don’t know if it’s a change in the currents or the weather but all the pickers from Scots Bay all the way up to Annapolis are reporting seeing less garbage coming ashore.”
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Fishing Gear Coalition of Atlantic Canada
Scotian Shores is a member of the Fishing Gear Coalition of Atlantic Canada (FGCAC), a non-profit organization that brings coastal communities together to develop sustainable solutions for marine waste challenges, with a focus on implementing recycling for end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear.
“With financial support from the Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO)’s Ghost Gear Fund, we’ve collected and recycled over 830 tonnes of end-of-life PVC-coated wire lobster traps, steel framed crab pots, and fishing and aquaculture rope and netting between May-December 2023,” said Marquita Davis, project manager of End-of-Life Fishing Gear Management for the FGCAC.
Since November 2021, the collation has collected 3,800 tonnes of marine waste.
“This growing accomplishment would not be possible without our partners and members, including 26 waste collection sites across Atlantic Canada and Eastern Quebec and two recyclers (AIM Recycling Inc. and Plastix A/S),” said Davis. “We’ve developed ghost gear retrieval best practices, are continually supporting hotspot mapping and gear retrieval initiatives, are growing our recycling options for end-of-life gear, and are developing marine waste education strategies.”
In 2024, the coalition wants to do more research on fishing and aquaculture gear, add more end-of-life gear collection sites, increase collection targets, and work with local industry and governments to implement a program for end-of-life gear. Product stewardship programs, like Divert Nova Scotia’s Used Passenger Tire Recycling Program, are effective waste reduction initiatives that have far-reaching impacts, Davis said.
“The FGCAC’s Fishing and Aquaculture Gear Product Stewardship Program would start with PVC-coated wire mesh, lobster traps, oyster cages, and steel crab pots – and add on more end-of-life gear products to the program as approved,” Davis explained. The program would provide a cost-effective, consistent way to manage end-of-life gear for the benefit of the industries, coastal communities, and the environment.
“Many of FGCAC’s members are actively involved in researching, locating, and removing marine debris and ghost gear from our ocean and shorelines in Atlantic Canada,” said Davis. “Some of our members, along with others, have contributed to DFO’s Ghost Gear Fund’s success of retrieving 593 kilometres of rope and 1,910 tonnes of other fishing gear and aquaculture debris.”
The FGCAC fills the gap between gear retrieval and waste management.
“Without sustainable solutions for end-of-life fishing and aquaculture gear, those groups retrieving marine debris and ghost gear from our ocean and shorelines would have to send it to the landfill.”
Fishing and aquaculture industries need to use large amounts of gear such as rope, lobster traps, crab pots, oyster cages, and nets. When this gear is no longer safe aor useful due to damage or wear and tear, it becomes known as end-of-life gear.
Davis said since around the 1960s, gear manufacturers have been incorporating more complex material and plastic mixes in their products.
“In the pursuit of prioritizing functionality, durability, safety, and other requirements of fishing and aquaculture gear, the unintentional design flaw of their products is that they are difficult to recover and recycle at end-of-life,” she said.
“Now, more than ever, our fishing and aquaculture industries need effective and long-term circular economy initiatives to help re-think and improve how gear is designed, made, used, recovered, and recycled. The FGCAC, along with our partners and members, are leading many of these sustainable solutions for complex marine waste challenges.”
Davis said the collation is keen to better its understanding and collaborate with new partners on new projects.
“A lot has been accomplished, but a lot more still needs to be done. We’re up for the challenge.”
