Recovering Lost Fishing Gear: Supporting Industry-Led Solutions
Lost fishing gear is a major contributor to whale and sea turtle entanglements on the U.S. West Coast, with most incidents occurring outside of active fishing seasons. Climate change is shifting whale migration and fishing patterns, increasing the overlap and risk of interaction. The California Lost Gear Recovery Network, led by commercial fishermen in partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations (PCFFA), builds on nearly a decade of collaboration with the Dungeness crab fishery to retrieve abandoned gear and reduce entanglement risk. Building on successful pilot programs in Half Moon Bay and the San Francisco Bay, the initiative is expanding to additional ports along the California coast and launching a new gear-spotting tool that enables maritime professionals and the public to report lost gear in real time.
Marley and Sofie supported that expansion by strengthening the program’s identity and developing materials to ensure consistent and effective implementation across ports. Key efforts included creating audience profiles for targeted outreach, developing branding and messaging to highlight the collaborative nature of the program, finalizing a port coordinator manual and training resources, and leading user testing for the new gear-spotting functionality. This work advances a model for industry–conservation partnership that reduces marine debris, lowers entanglement risk, and supports both healthy whale populations and sustainable fisheries.
Sofie and Marley’s Impacts:
- Created audience profiles for key program users
- Developed program naming and narrative to reflect the industry–conservation partnership
- Drafted outreach materials including program logo, webpage, newsletter, flyer, and social media toolkit
- Conducted user testing and edits for the gear-spotting form
- Produced training materials for the gear-spotting form (backend and frontend)
- Developed additional training materials for program logistics, including updates to the KoboToolbox form and live map
- Compiled key maritime user lists for all established and planned expansion ports
