A ghost trap is nothing but a trap that has been cut free of the line to the buoy that is said to keep on fishing or just holds the lobsters until they die.
I have been around lobstering all of my life and I don’t buy this theory.
I don’t buy this idea because I have retrieved ghost traps and sometimes they have lobsters in them and sometimes not. This is true even if a trap has been lost for several months, or until the next season.
The cam that is on a site, I don’t remember where, but you can search for “lobster cam” and it will come up. This cam shows that lobsters come and go as they please from the traps. Even most lobstermen will tell you that the reason the lobsters are caught, primarily because they just happen to be in the trap when it is hauled.
I feel sure there are exceptions as with anything, but even the larger lobsters that won’t fit through the vents designed to allow lobsters to get out if they aren’t large enough can back out through the heads in the trap. It might take longer, but in most cases do get out.
I feel there is some proof in that if a crate of lobsters is kept, even with all the lobsters banded, they will eat each other. They also will starve and all in the crate will be weak and near death after 4 or 5 days. This means that a trap that is found in a following season that has been lost that has lobsters in it, which they often do, the lobsters are either coming and going or, food is swimming in the trap. Otherwise, they would survive in a crate where they can’t get out.
One amazing thing about it is that this does vary in that some have none and some have several. Usually these lobsters have not been moving around a great deal as they are often covered with slime and have a few barnacles on them. Regardless, they are getting food somewhere.
If traps are hauled after setting 2 or 3 days, it is common to have a few dead lobsters as the lobsters are cannibalistic. Often there is no visible sign of damage to the lobster so it might have just had some disease. Usually they are half eaten, but if the trap hasn’t been setting without being checked for only a short time, they are sometimes nearly whole with just a bite mark from another lobster somewhere or something of that nature.
My point is that there is much talk of ghost traps. The cam actually shows that lobsters get in and out without the aid of the vent. Small lobsters will crawl or try to swim toward the vent in the trap, if the vent is in the lower part of the trap. Just like many crabs will walk over to the vent and drop out while taking the lobsters out of the trap or putting bait in it.
Spending millions of dollars to get ghost traps is actually quite ridiculous although I suppose some people don’t think so. I do know that even old traps with a large section missing can also contain lobsters. They appear to go in and just use it as a home.
The traps that are actively fishing are protection as well as a very great food source, especially for the smaller lobsters. Naturally if a lobster sheds or molts in a trap, it has a very great chance of being eaten by a crab or another lobster.
Overall, there are a great many places to spend money than fishing for ghost traps.
Tags: lobster cam, What are ghost traps