Data on lost and retrieved gear
Ghost Gear Program retrieval statistics (as of December 2025)
- 3,539 at-sea, shoreline and aquaculture trips
- 45,237 units of gear retrieved (excludes rope)
- 976 km of rope retrieved
- A total of 2,543 tonnes retrieved including fishing gear and aquaculture debris (excludes rope and buoys)
Return of gear (as of December 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: 3,503
- Total number of gear matched to harvester: 5,545
Locations of lost and retrieved fishing gear on the Atlantic Coast: 2020-01-01 to 2025-12-31 - Text version
Heat map showing reported locations of lost fishing gear and locations of retrieved gear (green dots), as submitted to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) along Canada’s Atlantic coast since 2020. Colors represent the relative density of lost gear reports. Yellow areas indicate very high reporting density, while light purple areas indicate lower (sparser) reporting density.
Locations of lost and retrieved fishing gear in Northern Labrador and the Arctic: 2020-01-01 to 2025-12-31 - Text version
Heat map showing reported locations of lost fishing gear and locations of retrieved gear (green dots), as submitted to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) in Northern Labrador and Canada’s Arctic coast since 2020. Colors represent the relative density of lost gear reports. Yellow areas indicate very high reporting density, while light purple areas indicate lower (sparser) reporting density.
Locations of lost and retrieved fishing gear on the Pacific coast: 2020-01-01 to 2025-12-31 - Text version
Heat map showing reported locations of lost fishing gear and locations of retrieved gear (green dots), as submitted to Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) along Canada’s Pacific coast since 2020. Colors represent the relative density of lost gear reports. Yellow areas indicate very high reporting density, while light purple areas indicate lower (sparser) reporting density.
Lost and retrieved gear in 2020-2025
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 December 2025.
| Region | Number of lost gear reports | Percentage of lost gear reports | Number of gear units reported lost | Number of gear units retrieved* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arctic | 12 | 0.10% | 102 | 188 |
| Gulf | 8,115 | 24.21% | 25,322 | 8,853 |
| Maritimes | 5,944 | 27.59% | 28,856 | 25,594 |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 328 | 4.67% | 4,887 | 3,027 |
| Quebec | 9,707 | 41.54% | 43,452 | 2,298 |
| Pacific | 320 | 1.90% | 1,983 | 5,795 |
| Ontario and Prairies | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 24,426 | 100% | 104,602 | 45,755 |
Table notes*Excludes length of rope *Includes ghost gear retrieval activities and gear retrieved by harvesters that had been previously reported as lost. |
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Percentage of lost gear reports submitted by fishery in 2020-2025:Footnote 2
- Lobster – 77%
- Crab – 21.4%
- Groundfish – 0.6%
- Prawn – 0.7%
- Other – 0.3%
- Date modified: