MD Watermen Getting Paid for Cleaning Up Their Own Trash

Good Work if you can get it. Ghost pots put watermen to work during downtime

Watermen will go to work in about two weeks, removing old crab pots and other debris that harm underwater species on the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay. The state's ghost pot retrieval program also helps put watermen to work at a normally slow time of year.

"Oystering is dwindling down and it's too early for crabbing," said Danny Webster of Deal Island. "Watermen need the money." Webster said he has applied to take part in this year's program but hasn't yet heard if he has been selected. The state received 1,000 applications but will narrow that number down during the next few weeks, he said.
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Following two serious storms last fall, state officials decided to relaunch the program this year with about $1 million left from the original $15 million grant. The storms caused watermen to lose work and equipment, while they also were responsible for more crab pots breaking loose, she said.

The abandoned pots continue to catch and kill crabs and finfish, which may become bait for other predators that also could enter and become trapped in the pots, according to DNR.

Crab pots become lost when buoy lines are cut by powerboat propellers or during storms when the lines may chafe through.

I've recovered more than one lost crab pot myself, or at least he wreckage of them and didn't get paid a cent.  If enough of something hangs in the ocean (or bay), some of them will get lost.  If the state were serious about reducing the number of ghost pots, it would arrange to raise the price of them, with a license fee applied to their purchase.