Scientists estimate that more than 100,000 crab pots are abandoned — most are accidentally cut lose by boat propellers — annually off the shores of Virginia in the Chesapeake Bay.

The traps, also known as “ghost” or “derelict” crab pots, fall to the bottom of the bay, where they attract crab and fish for a year until the steel dissolves into salt water. Previous studies indicate the ghost pots can trap up to 50 crabs. They also catch fish, such as Atlantic croaker, oyster toadfish and white perch.

58 Virginian watermen participated in a debris-cleanup program created last fall after state regulators — concerned about preserving the crab population — closed the winter crabbing season for the first time in 105 years. The watermen earned $300 a day plus fuel costs, removing the crab pots.

As of March 6, the removal program had recovered 6,436 crab pots and other debris. Although in its embryonic stages, scientists hope the removal program will help boost the bay’s crab population, which dropped to 120 million last year, prompting a federal disaster declaration.

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