'Ghost Gear' Haunts R.I. Waters, Harming Marine Life and the Environment
Greg Vespe has fished Rhode Island waters for 25 years and said he'll cast his line for “whatever bites.”
But more and more, as the 58-year-old angler reels in summer flounder, codfish, tautog, and black sea bass from his small tin boat, his line is pulling in lost and abandoned fishing gear. Plastic fishing nets, rustproof lures, thick rope, and valuable crab and lobster potsare all drifting along the bottom of Narragansett Bay like tumbleweeds.
The stray tangled masses are havens for underwater debris and continue...
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