When: Thursday, March 7, 2024, 5:30-7 pm
Where: Higgins Welcome Center, 45 Upper College Road
Fishing gear such as nets, rope, lines, buoys and traps, most of which is made from plastic, can be lost, abandoned or discarded at sea. The resulting debris, also known as ghost gear, litters our seas and breaks down into smaller pieces, adding to the problems created by plastics and microplastics. Removal of ghost gear is costly, challenging and, in the US, largely coordinated by nonprofits or volunteers. Laura Ludwig, director of the Center for Coastal Studies’ Marine Debris & Plastic Program, is a key player organizing teams of commercial fishermen, artists and volunteers to address the issue. She will join us on 3/7 in the Higgins Welcome Center and present a talk on the impacts, removal, and repurposing of plastic marine debris including fishing gear, consumer debris, and storm-created infrastructure debris, and will share some innovative partnerships with artists who leverage the materials to create beautiful works of art to bring about awareness.
“Over the course of nearly twenty years spent removing abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear from the ocean, I’ve come to understand the value of collaborating with commercial fishermen, researchers, managers and recycling companies. Add artists to that list, and now you’ve got the best and highest use of otherwise unusable material. ”
Laura Ludwig, director of the Marine Debris & Plastics Program at the Center for Coastal Studies, focuses on an interdisciplinary approach to investigate and respond to abandoned, lost, discarded or end-of-life fishing gear, beach debris, microplastics, and other marine plastic debris issues. Since beginning the program in 2012, she has grown a 400-person volunteer “Beach Brigade” which supports an active year-round shoreline cleanup and debris data collection effort on Cape Cod.
Laura has directed at-sea fishing gear removal and recycling programs in Maine and Massachusetts since 2009, working with hundreds of commercial lobstermen, shellfishermen, and other fishermen to properly dispose of thousands of lost, abandoned or discarded lobster traps and more than 90 tons of fishing gear debris, including fixed, mobile and aquaculture gear recovered from the ocean floor.
Since 2006, Laura has worked as a “debris broker”, providing hundreds of tons of old or discarded rope, nets, and other plastic beach debris to craftsmen and artists who re-purpose the material, diverting it from the waste stream to be used in sculpture, artwork or doormats.
Laura has presented on her work at state, regional and international conferences, including the 5th, 6th and 7th International Marine Debris Conferences in 2011 (Honolulu), 2018 (San Diego) and 2022 (Busan, South Korea). She regularly presents on fishing gear, marine debris and plastics issues and consults regionally on municipal plastic reduction initiatives.