N.B. Indigenous divers among newest trainees in Canada's ghost-gear retrieval program

A small group of Indigenous divers has been training in New Brunswick lakes and swimming pools ahead of two ambitious missions this summer, aimed at recovering lost and abandoned fishing equipment, also known as ghost gear.

"It's a little nerve-racking," said Katie Patles, one of the diving students who was practising new skills at Atlas Park near Bathurst on Saturday. "But I'm a fairly adventurous person so I'm hoping it goes well."

Once certified, Patles and her team, along with harvesters from Esgenoopetitj and Natoaganeg First Nations in northeastern New Brunswick, will survey lobster-fishing areas 23 and 25 in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The crews are scheduled to head out to open water the weeks of June 19 and July 17.

"We're going to locate the gear using different sonars and cameras," as well as remote vehicles, said Patles.

"In the gulf there's just so much. There's so many lobster traps and crab traps that have come undone due to hurricanes and fishermen having to cut lines because they're tangled.

"So the plan is to locate those and then we'll dive down, and we'll hook onto them with a carabiner and a rope and then once we come back up, the people on the boat will pull the gear up."

The project was successfully pitched to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans by Anqotum Resource Management, a division of the North Shore Micmac District Council.

The council was formed in 1987 to serve the communities of Oinpegitjoig (Pabineau), Ugpi'Ganjig (Eel River Bar), Natoaganeg (Eel Ground), L'nui Menikuk (Indian Island), Tjipogtotjg (Buctouche), Metepenagiag (Red Bank) and Amlamgog (Fort Folly) First Nations.

Anqotum's $200,000 budget comes from Canada's ghost-gear fund, established in 2020 to help prevent wildlife entanglements.

Diving instructor Joe George says this will be his fourth year taking out diving teams.

"It's horrific but incredible what's actually out there," said George, co-owner of Cojo Diving, based in Lincoln, near Fredericton.

WATCH | Indigenous divers practise their skills to recover lost traps and rope:

"There are hundreds and hundreds of traps. Some because of Hurricane Fiona, some because of other storms, some just bad luck — they fell off the back of a boat.

"It gets washed offshore and goes out and settles on the bottom, and a lot of this gear is still fishing," said George. "Sea life is still getting caught in it."

Victims include North Atlantic right whales.

More than 1,200 tonnes of gear recovered

Ottawa says it has funded nearly 100 proposals since the fund's inception at a cost of $26.7 million.

Last May, DFO said community groups had helped remove over 1,295 tonnes of gear from Canadian waters.

Teams also recovered more than 150 kilometres of rope, enough to "stretch from Moncton to Saint John," according to a government news release.

Once lost gear has been located, the team will retrieve it. Tagged gear will be returned to small-craft harbours and untagged gear will be properly disposed of in a designated landfill, if it's not able to be recycled.

"Communities usually depend on outsourcing for this type of work," said Patles.

"We've really stepped up, and we've really been out there in the field and getting the education behind it and the sciences behind it and pushing to do it ourselves."