Our very own Eleven Angling Product Manager, Brian O’Keefe, spent Memorial Day 2021 weekend participating in this year’s Ocean Aid 360 Ghost Trap Rodeo event in Key West, Florida. Ocean Aid 360 teamed up with The Grassy Creek Foundation along with Eleven Angling and other local partners to put on the event. Brian O’Keefe participated in this ocean clean-up project by helping collect derelict crab traps disbursed throughout the ocean, which harm marine ecosystems. Read on to get a behind-the-scenes perspective from Brian O’Keefe’s experience with Ocean Aid 360.
Brian O’Keefe helping the Ocean Aid 360 team with their ocean clean up efforts
I have heard of ghost traps for years, on both coasts. From storms, mishaps, or neglect for the resource, many, as in tens of thousands, of traps are lost or abandoned. If they are intact, they keep on trapping. The trapped critters become the bait that attracts more crabs and more lobsters. These abandoned crab and lobster traps are serious killers. For years, they rack up a huge number of useless deaths for crustaceans and other marine life.
Brian O’Keefe with some of the Ocean Aid 360 team.
In late May, I joined several dozen like-minded Floridians for three full days of physical work participating in this ocean clean-up event. The ‘off the street’ volunteers, like myself, were teamed up with local guides who used their knowledge of the waters around Key West, Florida, and boats to locate ghost traps, haul them onboard (oh what a mess we made), and deliver them to a collection point on land. What a great feeling it is to write ‘on land’, where the traps can no longer continue to trap and kill crabs and other creatures in this silent but deadly scenario. Today, thanks to Ocean Aid 360, there are Ghost Trap Rodeos in many coastal communities in Florida, like Tampa, Homosassa, Jacksonville, Apalachicola, etc. Our ocean clean-up event collected 822 ghost traps (many with large stone crab claws, a reminder of the sad story that occurred on the seafloor), and ropes and buoys that tipped the scales over 40,000 pounds! Plus, one boat found a sea turtle with a slight injury that was tangled in rope from a ghost trap. The turtle was saved and taken to a turtle rehabilitation facility.
Ocean Aid 360 is an ‘all hands on deck’ grassroots organization that brings recreational anglers/divers, sportfishing captains, and commercial fishermen together for the common good of protecting the Atlantic Ocean.
Click here to learn more about Ocean Aid 360.
By: Brian O’Keefe
Angling Product Manager
Our very own Eleven Angling Product Manager, Brian O’Keefe, spent Memorial Day 2021 weekend participating in this year’s Ocean Aid 360 Ghost Trap Rodeo event in Key West, Florida. Ocean Aid 360 teamed up with The Grassy Creek Foundation along with Eleven Angling and other local partners to put on the event. Brian O’Keefe participated in this ocean clean-up project by helping collect derelict crab traps disbursed throughout the ocean, which harm marine ecosystems. Read on to get a behind-the-scenes perspective from Brian O’Keefe’s experience with Ocean Aid 360.
Brian O’Keefe helping the Ocean Aid 360 team with their ocean clean up efforts
I have heard of ghost traps for years, on both coasts. From storms, mishaps, or neglect for the resource, many, as in tens of thousands, of traps are lost or abandoned. If they are intact, they keep on trapping. The trapped critters become the bait that attracts more crabs and more lobsters. These abandoned crab and lobster traps are serious killers. For years, they rack up a huge number of useless deaths for crustaceans and other marine life.
Brian O’Keefe with some of the Ocean Aid 360 team.
In late May, I joined several dozen like-minded Floridians for three full days of physical work participating in this ocean clean-up event. The ‘off the street’ volunteers, like myself, were teamed up with local guides who used their knowledge of the waters around Key West, Florida, and boats to locate ghost traps, haul them onboard (oh what a mess we made), and deliver them to a collection point on land. What a great feeling it is to write ‘on land’, where the traps can no longer continue to trap and kill crabs and other creatures in this silent but deadly scenario. Today, thanks to Ocean Aid 360, there are Ghost Trap Rodeos in many coastal communities in Florida, like Tampa, Homosassa, Jacksonville, Apalachicola, etc. Our ocean clean-up event collected 822 ghost traps (many with large stone crab claws, a reminder of the sad story that occurred on the seafloor), and ropes and buoys that tipped the scales over 40,000 pounds! Plus, one boat found a sea turtle with a slight injury that was tangled in rope from a ghost trap. The turtle was saved and taken to a turtle rehabilitation facility.
Ocean Aid 360 is an ‘all hands on deck’ grassroots organization that brings recreational anglers/divers, sportfishing captains, and commercial fishermen together for the common good of protecting the Atlantic Ocean.
Click here to learn more about Ocean Aid 360.
By: Brian O’Keefe
Angling Product Manager
