This month, with the help of dozens of commercial fishermen and women, the North Carolina Coastal Federation will be working to find and remove potentially dangerous lost fishing gear.
Every year, crab pots and other fishing gear are lost in ENC sounds in a variety of ways, and they can get hung up or drift into channels, creating hazards to boaters, wildlife, and other fishermen.
Commercial fishermen and women are hired to collect the pots during the annual closure of internal coastal waters to all crab, eel, fish, and shrimp pots, January 1-31 north of the Highway 58 bridge to Emerald Isle.
Once the pots are collected, they are recycled. Crab pots that are recovered from the Albemarle and Pamlico Sound region will be available for the rightful owners to reclaim after the cleanup is complete.