Data on lost and retrieved gear
Ghost Gear Program retrieval statistics (as of January 2025)
- 3,496 at-sea, shoreline and aquaculture trips
- 40,940 units of gear retrieved *excludes rope
- 928 km of rope retrieved
- A total of 2,475 tonnes retrieved including fishing gear and aquaculture debris *excludes rope and buoys
Return of gear (as of January 2025)
If the owner of retrieved gear can be identified, they are contacted to inform them that their gear has been recovered. Owners are then given the option to collect their gear or relinquish ownership.
- Gear successfully returned to owner: 3,086
- Total number of gear matched to harvester: 4,925
Map A: Map displaying the locations of lost gear reports submitted to DFO (red dots) and the locations of ghost gear retrieval operations (green dots) on Canada’s Atlantic coast since 2020.
Note: Each lost gear report (red dot) and each gear retrieval operation (green dot) may include multiple units of gear.
Map B: Map displaying the locations of lost gear reports submitted to DFO (red dots) and the locations of ghost gear retrieval operations (green dots) in Northern Labrador and Canada’s Arctic coast since 2020.
Note: Each lost gear report (red dot) and each gear retrieval operation (green dot) may include multiple units of gear.
Map C: Map displaying the locations of lost gear reports submitted to DFO (red dots) and the locations of ghost gear retrieval operations (green dots) on Canada’s Pacific coast since 2020.
Note: Each lost gear report (red dot) and each gear retrieval operation (green dot) may include multiple units of gear.
Lost and retrieved gear in 2020-2024
This table displays the number of lost gear reports submitted to DFO, the percentage of lost gear reports submitted to DFO, the number of gear units reported lost, and the number of gear units retrieved for each DFO Region from January 2020 to October 2024.
| Region | Number of lost gear reports | Percentage of lost gear reports | Number of gear units reported lost | Number of gear units retrieved* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arctic | 6 | 0.03% | 60 | 157 |
| Gulf | 6,629 | 32.92% | 19,432 | 8,388 |
| Maritimes | 4,548 | 22.59% | 22,961 | 23,913 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 234 | 1.16% | 3,454 | 2,796 |
| Quebec | 8,430 | 41.87% | 29,945 | 1,990 |
| Pacific | 288 | 1.43% | 1,950 | 5,157 |
| Ontario & Prairies | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 20,135 | 100% | 77,802 | 42,401 |
*Excludes length of rope
Percentage of lost gear reports submitted by fishery in 2020-2024: Footnote *
- Lobster – 71%
- Crab – 27%
- Groundfish – 0.6%
- Prawn – 0.5%
- Other – 0.9%
- Date modified: