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New effort to remove old nets from Puget Sound
06/20/2002


By Scott Miller,
KING 5 News


SEATTLE - One less net is killing sea life in the San Juan Islands after a new effort to remove old nets from the Puget Sound hit the water Thursday.

A single buoy marked the spot in the water in
Puget Sound. Beneath it was several hundred
feet of net draped over a once productive reef
- abandoned, but still deadly.


In addition to old nets, there is a tangle of
fishing lines and strong wires underwater,
which pose dangers to divers
and marine animals -



Photograph © KING 5 NEWS


"A lot of old skeletons down there,” said Doug Williams. “We freed some box crab.”

Six divers hit the water. Their mission: attach inflatable floats to the sunken net and bring it to the surface.

It is hazardous work. There are more than
just nets under water. There is a tangle of
fishing lines and strong wire, which is
especially dangerous for divers.

The crew chief surfaced, tangled with line.
It was a close call.

"It gets your heart going,” said Williams.
“For a moment, it's ‘Oh, no!’”

Miles of abandoned nets beneath Puget Sound are killing sealife.
Photograph © KING 5


With all divers accounted for, the crew tied a line to the net and hooked it to a winch on a fishing boat - the first catch of a government funded pilot project.

"We've promised to remove twelve tons of nets during the next year,” said Tom Cowan, NW Straits Commission.

It’s just a tiny dent in the miles of abandoned nets beneath Puget Sound. Thursday’s catch was evidence of the damage they do, now scattered on the deck and tangled in decomposing mesh.

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