11-1B Stellwagen Alive!
Grant Round:
2011 Spring
Grant Program:
Boston Grants
Grant Type:
Other Grants
Grant amount requested:
9,775.00
Attachments
Please provide a brief description of the project for which you seek funding.
Stellwagen Sweep is cooperative program involving volunteers, commercial fishermen, scientists and government agencies to remove dangerous marine debris using traditional and innovative modern techniques. This proposal is a community based coastal derelict fishing gear removal project that will involve both the local Boston Harbor fishing communities and local area residents to create awareness and provide several local events to clean-up land based harbor/docks and remove/dispose of lobster traps for steel recycling and non-metallic debris to create energy for home heating and lighting.
_Introduction and Background_
An ongoing marine debris program is critical to Massachusetts Bay and adjacent waters given the intensity of a centuries old fishing industry, which is still in active operation. The project area overlaps one of the most active fisheries in the world. 337 million of the 684 million pounds of seafood landed among New England states in 2006 came from Massachusetts alone (NMFS 2007). The intensity of fishing activity using gillnet, trap, and other static gear in this area, makes this a critical area for intensive derelict fishing gear recovery efforts.
This proposal involves innovative industry-community collaboration. The continuation of these efforts has the strong support of communities and especially the commercial fishing industry.
_Types of debris:_
Traps: small, portable, rigid devices that fish and invertebrates enter through small openings, with or without enticement by bait, but can only leave with difficulty by design. Lobster traps are fished as either one to three traps per buoy, or strung together in "trawls" of up to 50 traps. Each lobster trap can weigh between 20 and 84 pounds (Dean, M.J., 2007). The total number of traps used in the lobster fishery increased from just over one million in 1970 to over four million in 1998 (Dean, M.J., 2007). Since the invention of the wire trap in the mid-1970’s, we’ve seen a steady conversion from the biodegradable wooden traps to more durable plastic coated metal wire traps. Today, about 96% of lobster traps are made of plastic-coated metal corewire (Dean, M.J., 2007). Current traps take centuries to degrade, and even then continue to be a source of fragmented plastic in our oceans. The traps do have “escape vents” that will degrade over time and theoretically stop fishing. However, marine organisms are still observed in derelict traps and these traps continue to ghost fish (pers. obs. Tlusty, 2008).
_How much debris?_
In a 2007 report (Tlusty and Levenson), has estimated “…that about 500,000 traps are lost a year is not unreasonable.” The number of new traps constructed each year supports an estimate of a half-million annually lost gear. At 20 to 84 pounds per trap, an estimated 10,000 to 21,000 tons of derelict gear is deposited annually in the fishery. We estimate that we will remove and dispose of approximately 80,000 lbs of marine debris from this site under this grant award.
_Land based Clean-up and Removal_
It is well documented that coaxing unused fishing gear from commercial fishing entities prevents gear from becoming derelict fishing gear (DFG) in the sea. Our organization has developed strong working relationships with Harbormasters in ports and their cooperation has proven to be invaluable in our marketing efforts that drive the land based aspect. In some locations, we have seen our marketing efforts drive a 1000% increase in unused gear deposits over an ongoing collection effort. Our land based methodology includes collaboration with local organizations, recruitment of “ambassadors” from the fishing community, signage, convenient placement of dumpsters and a limited time frame. The result is a concentrated response by the local fishing community that allows for a very efficient retrieval and collection effort. We work with Covanta and other partners for responsible recycling and disposal.
_About Stellwagen Sweep_
Stellwagen Sweep is cooperative program involving volunteers, commercial fishermen, scientists and government to remove dangerous marine debris using traditional and innovative modern techniques. “Stellwagen Sweep - Seeking Solutions” is a community based coastal marine debris removal project that will involve both the local Boston Harbor fishing communities and local area residents to create awareness and provide local events to clean-up land based harbor/docks and remove/dispose of lobster traps for steel recycling and non-metallic debris to create energy for home heating and lighting.
Primary Issue Area:
Living Economies
Please break-down/categorize the program expenses:
| Proposed Item | Estimated $ Amount | Would grant funds be used for this item? |
|---|---|---|
| Subcontract compaction (2x/year) | $3,000.00 | Yes |
| SA fisherman event supervision | $800.00 | Yes |
| Annual fisherman dumpster security | $2,400.00 | Yes |
| 4 Dumpster bins (wood/rope debris) | $2,000.00 | Yes |
| Printing flyers spring/winter events | $300.00 | Yes |
| SA overhead & administration | $1,275.00 | Yes |
Whom does your group need to make this project happen?
Please explain how your group will engage members from your community in this project.
Since 1987 the Boston Harbor lobster boat fleet who cast their traps in the Harbor bounced from pier to pier but an unusual alliance between the lobstermen and the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston gave them a home in South Boston. It was due to an initial grassroots efforts that they found a permanent home at ''Cardinal Medeiros Dock.''
Through this collaborative history we propose to capitalize on the community at large to bring together volunteers from Stellwagen Alive, Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association, The Boston Harbor Association and at-large to aid in this initiative. The level of cooperation between multiple been pivotal in our prior efforts and the opportunity to bring these efforts to the Boston waterfront community is unparalleled.
Stellwagen Alive! (SA) is proposing a yearlong environmental effort to establish a local community infrastructure network to facilitate maintaining dumpsters in locations in Boston Harbor communities. Our initial location will be on Cardinal Medeiros Dock. We plan to enlist, coordinate and facilitate the collection and removal of marine debris with the local community as part of the Stellwagen Sweep program. We would tie in our current partners from NFWF (that are funding our current state and federal waters marine debris efforts), but this local effort would be mainly focused on a Boston community effort rather than a state or federal effort. Funding from BGI would help create the ability to pay local fisherman to help coordinate/supervise, maintain the security, collection, compaction and removal of obsolete metal traps or ghost traps from the environment (land and ocean areas) and recycle them into renewable steel and convert the wood & rope into energy by safe incineration methods. Using the Boston Harbor lobstermen’s current dumpster in place on Cardinal Medeiros Dock, we propose that Stellwagen Alive! help organize and create spring and winter community efforts to bring local volunteers and fisherman together in an effort to create awareness, but more important would be to remove as many old obsolete lobster traps as possible by collecting, compacting and putting them efficiently into designated dumpsters for removal to be transported to the steel recycling facility at Schinzter Steel in Everett. The other non-metallic marine debris that can be incinerated for energy could be collected and put into a second of dumpster and sent to Covanta Energy in Haverhill to be converted in to energy. This 2011 pilot effort will be concentrated at the Cardinal Medeiros Dock. If this pilot project gains momentum, it could also be duplicated at other harbor/docks fishing community sights around & outside Boston in the future.
Currently there are about (26) lobster boats out of Cardinal Medeiros Dock in Boston and the President of the Massachusetts Lobsterman’s association (Bernie Fenney) stated that the majority of the fisherman resides in the Boston area. He said that the busy season for lobstering out of this Boston dock is mainly June thru December. We want to organize two annual marine cleanup events, in the spring April/May and winter January/February. This is when the lobsterman are getting rid of their old gear from the past season that can’t be repaired or are bringing in the current in gear that is battered by the weather in the winter months that is brought in for repair for next season – in both cases the unrepairable gear needs to be disposed of in a safe and environmentally responsible way. Stellwagen Alive! would assist in organizing these efforts with the local lobsterman to facilitate the coordination and labor to make this an easier more efficient and focused effort for fisherman and local subcontractors to mechanically crush and efficiently load the steel traps into dumpsters. Our organization could also provide local community volunteer labor to help as needed to safely crush the gear (see attached full application for more info).
If your group receives a NEGEF Grow grant, how do you plan to pay for remaining expenses?
| $ Amount | Source |
|---|---|
| $9,775.00 | NEGEF BGI grant |
Please list these materials or services
| $ Amount | Item |
|---|---|
| $2,500.00 | SA Volunteers |
| $2,500.00 | Lobsterman labor |
| $5,000.00 | Bins for metal traps |
Please describe what changes will occur in your community and its environment when your group's project is successful.
There are a myriad of action and civic based groups to help support this effort and come together to help solve this environmentally challenging problem. Prior to Stellwagen Sweep there has been little to no incentive to dispose of derelict fishing gear in a responsible way. This gear would remain in the environment in perpetuity if this was not an option, as the gear cannot be disposed of in landfills or other dumpsites. This initiative helps dispose of the gear so that it no longer remains in the ocean or backyards causing harm to people, fishermen and the ocean environment. By working together to solve this problem it will foster stewardship and increase the fishing community engagement in solving these kinds of challenges.
Massachusetts Lobstermen’s Association and the lobstering community on Boston Harbor have already taken a leadership position by asking for help in solving this problem. They are ready to rally their constituency to help with the required events.
Lastly, there is a community at large that surrounds Boston and the Harbor of small non-profits, civic groups and state organizations that care deeply of the Harbor and Boston as a resource we must take care of future generations. This project will leverage some of that community support by collaborating with established groups to achieve a cleaner environment.
Stellwagen Alive will establish informed networks of activists across the city. This project will involve a continued land-based effort for prevention of marine debris as well as removing and disposing (recycling when possible) of derelict fishing gear from Massachusetts waters.
* Outreach to the Cardinal Medeiros Dock fishing community to bring awareness to both land-based disposal and retrieval.
* Our organizations short-term outcome will be the elimination of approximately 27,000lbs of marine debris. A secondary, but important additional outcome is the vital collaboration between the commercial fishing industry and environmentally aware community participants, both of whom work together to remove harmful DFG.
* There are several primary long-term outcomes of this project. First is the improvement of the fishery and of the ecosystem in surrounding waters. Second is the greater awareness and documentation of the extent of the problem of marine debris through record keeping during identification and retrieval sweeps. Third is the economic benefit to the commercial fishing industry that will see fewer entanglement hazards and less time spent on disentangling gear, therefore reducing their replacement costs. Fourth is the improvement to the environment and the attention finally given to this pervasive problem.
Please list how many people in your community your group expects to actively engage in this project.
200