- Division of Marine Fisheries
Derelict fishing gear is well known to create entanglement hazards for marine life. Such is the case with gear aboard the F/V Patriot, a small dragger that sank 14 miles off Gloucester in January 2009. While the vessel is intact and lying on its starboard side in 100’ of water within the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, over time, its trawl net has loosened from its reel and billows out across the stern, and additional pieces of derelict netting have also been snagged. In July 2020, a group of divers on the M/V Gauntlet found a large grey seal entangled in a section of this netting. The seal was likely attracted to the net by fish caught in the gear.
Subsequent discussions between DMF, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, and North Atlantic Diving Expeditions (the owners of M/V Gauntlet) led to the development of a project to remove as much netting as possible and secure any remainder on the net reel. Although scientific diving efforts have been limited this year due to COVID restrictions, a small group of divers from DMF and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) were able to perform a reconnaissance dive on August 11, 2020 using DMF’s R/V Alosa. The intent of this dive was to survey the vessel and determine the best way to cut and lift the nets. The current plan is for teams of divers to use lift bags to raise the net off the wreck, reducing the number of contact points. The netting will then be cut away and sent to the surface for recovery by DMF’s R/V Craven or the Stellwagen Bank Sanctuary’s vessel R/V Auk.
Given the extremely unsettled weather that occurred this fall, the project has been placed on hold until spring. As soon as conditions permit, the divers will revisit the wreck and begin clean-up. We will also deploy an acoustic receiver (with mooring) as part of what we hope will be the first of a series of receivers on offshore wrecks provide data for the coast-wide tracking network.
By Vin Malkoski, Diving Safety Officer
