Effects of Derelict Fishing Gear in the Chesapeake Bay Assessment Report

To assess the ecological and economic impacts of derelict blue crab pots in the Chesapeake Bay, a team of researchers from CSS-Dynamac, Inc.; Versar, Inc.; the Virginia Institute of Marine Science; and Global Science & Technology, Inc. recently completed a comprehensive Bay-wide assessment as part of a project funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program. In addition to the Chesapeake Bay assessment, the team also created a Guiding Framework for derelict fishing gear assessments, which can be applied to other fisheries and/or regions interested in conducting similar studies. Both documents can be found on this page. This infographic more plainly outlines the results reported in the Chesapeake Bay Assessment. For more information on this project, its results, and to access the downloadable infographic, check out the project profile and this blog post.