Federal funding has been approved to begin removing some of the hundreds of thousands of derelict lobster traps left behind on the floor of the Long Island Sound, a “ghost fishery” that continues to trap and kill marine life to this day. It comes about two decades after Connecticut’s lobster industry collapsed. The $569,000 included in the new federal budget bill will finance a coalition, led by The Maritime Aquarium of Norwalk, that will oversee retrieval of the traps. The goal is to eventually hire local charter fishing vessels and fishermen to collect an initial 3,000 traps over two years.
Photo: FILE – In this May 2, 2016, photo, Bobby Kent pushes a baited lobster pot into the waters of Long Island Sound off Groton, Conn. Only a handful of lobstermen still work the waters due to a dwindling lobster population. Federal funding has been approved to begin removing some of the hundreds of thousands of derelict lobster pots left behind on the floor of Long Island Sound, a “ghost fishery” that continues to trap and kill marine life to this day. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)
