Posted last week in the Shellfish forum.
Is there any law in CT that allows defunct traps to be pulled from the water?
I set my traps in the same area as last year and see several traps that were in the exact same location when I pulled my traps last November. The bouys and ropes are coated with sea weed and kelp so I know they haven't been pulled for months.
Sure hate the thought of all the stuff that gets caught in the traps and dies as well as the rope that eventually breaks free and ends up in all of our props.
Question today,
Is there anything can be done about these traps that are obviously not going to be pulled again by their owner. I pulled up 2 traps yesterday to get a name or licence number off the trap and couldn't find one. Any information would be helpful.
Also, a suggestion from a fisherman in Louisiana is their State law has a 3 week time period where all traps must be out of the water. Any traps left in during that time are pulled by DEP and DEP approved volunteers and destroyed, auctioned off or kept at a DEP location and the owners can come retrieve them (with a fine of course).
Jim/Fowlfishing