he California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project recovered more than 45 tons — 90,968 pounds — of lost, abandoned or otherwise discarded fishing gear along the Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego coasts and from around the Channel Islands in 2020 and 2021. The project is a program of the Karen C. Drayer Wildlife Health Center at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.

“Lost, abandoned or otherwise discarded fishing gear impacts the global ocean, harming marine wildlife, degrading habitat, and endangering vessels and ocean-users,” said Kirsten Gilardi, director of the WHC and its California Lost Fishing Gear Recovery Project, which works directly with commercial fishers to find and retrieve the gear to reduce its impact. “We’re celebrating World Oceans Day, which is June 8, not only by assessing the achievements of our project to date, but also by continuing this important work to remove the most impactful form of marine debris from southern California’s coastal ocean.”