While marine debris includes these highly visible objects, it also includes other types

of solid pollution such as abandoned vessels, trash, anthropogenic particles like microplastics that may not be visible Sirolimus manufacturer to the naked eye, and derelict fishing gear including lost and discarded nets and traps (United States Congress, 2006). Derelict fishing gear is a type of debris that, while less obvious than floating pollutants, may have broader and potentially more harmful implications. This gear, whether accidentally lost or intentionally discarded, has a tendency to continue to fish for variable amounts of time; this phenomenon is known as ghost fishing (Brown and Macfadyen, 2007). Ghost fishing results in the loss of both targeted commercial species as well as non-target species and can damage seafloor habitats. Its impacts tend to be “out of sight” and are chronic stressors in many fisheries (Matsuoka et al., 2005). Yet, despite the important and negative impacts ghost fishing by derelict fishing traps (DFTs) can have on recreational and commercial fish stocks, there is a surprising lack of published data examining the extent of the problem, including both the ecological and economic impacts to fisheries and habitats. In addition, there have been few attempts to synthesize

the available data to develop a broad understanding of the scope of the problem (Macfadyen et al., 2009). This review and synthesis is a first step in gaining a specific understanding of the issue of DFTs in U.S. coastal

waters, http://www.selleckchem.com/products/AG-014699.html comparing several trap Phosphoglycerate kinase fisheries from around the U.S. for regional similarities and differences in the severity of the problem and the challenges faced in managing DFTs. We focus on derelict fishing traps, defined as traps that are abandoned, lost, and some percent of which are still ghost fishing. Previous studies have investigated the degree of trap loss, or the number of derelict traps, and/or the amount of ghost fishing in selected regions of some commercial fisheries (Antonelis et al., 2011, Breen, 1987, Bullimore et al., 2001, Chiappone et al., 2004, Guillory, 1993 and Stevens et al., 2000). However, there is a significant need to advance the state of the science on DFTs as a national problem, and on regional, species-specific ecological and economic impacts. This synthesis provides an overview of the DFT problem by integrating work funded by the NOAA Marine Debris Program from seven key fisheries representing a majority of gear types and trap fisheries in the United States (Fig. 1), along with other published literature, to gain a better understanding of DFTs in U.S. waters. Fisheries include the Dungeness crab (Cancer magister) fisheries in Alaska and Puget Sound, the blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) fishery in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, the spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) fishery in Florida, and the coral reef fish fishery in the U.S.