Ghost gear. It sounds like some kind of supernatural sports equipment. But the reality is even more frightening. Ghost gear is fishing gear that’s been abandoned, lost or discarded in the ocean. And, according to Laura Ludwig, there is a lot of it.
“We have huge fisheries in New England, and they generate huge amounts of debris,” Ludwig said. “And it’s all plastic.”
Ludwig directs the Marine Debris and Plastics Program at the Center for Costal Studies, in Provincetown. The program leads beach clean-ups and partners with other organizations around New England to recover, sort and document ghost gear. From there, CCS tries to extend the useful life of the gear. They make it available to artists and others who can give it new purpose.
Ludwig says she has long partnered with artists who reuse rope. But now the list of materials she puts in the hands of makers is longer.
“Now we have artists working with Styrofoam, Clorox bottles, tampon applicators, fishing gear – like the little vents that come off of lobster traps. All kinds of things, people are interested in,” she said.
What they can’t reuse gets incinerated for electricity. Unfortunately, Ludwig says recycling is not an option.
“People say, “Oh, do you recycle all of your materials?” And the reality is that they are not going to get recycled,” she said. “They are too far degraded and they contaminate the recycling stream.”
So CCS is left footing the bill to get rid of whatever ghost gear it can’t rehome. The majority of the program’s funding comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). But Ludwig is uncertain if that funding stream will continue.
“I apply to every grant opportunity that I can,” she said, “and I used to get all my money, pretty much, from NOAA. And that’s probably a thing of the past. At least it seems that way.”
While CCS diverts about half the ghost gear it recovers from the waste stream, Ludwig says paying contractors and disposal costs is still the program’s main expense.
