Gulf of Maine Region Fishing Gear and Wildlife Impacts Data

Abandoned, lost, or discarded fishing gear (including nets, lines, ropes, traps, seed bags, floats, and buoys used for commercial and recreational fishing and aquaculture) can have adverse impacts on coastal birds through entanglement/entrapment and habitat loss. In the Gulf of Maine region (here defined as southern Atlantic Canada to Cape Cod), these impacts have been widely reported, but poorly documented, hindering clean up and prevention efforts. As part of a [project] initiated by US Fish and Wildlife Service Migratory Birds and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program staff, and a University of Rhode Island graduate student, this system was developed for reporting information on the extent of fishing gear present in coastal habitats and associated interactions with birds. Such information can help managers, conservationists, and other stakeholders better understand and reduce impacts of such gear. The information you provide here will be compiled by the USFWS and made accessible to land and wildlife managers and other professional stakeholders upon request. In addition, brief summaries will be produced at regular intervals and served on the[ Marine Debris Collaborative Portal] for general audiences. This reporting form (link: [https://arcg.is/0njf0P0]) includes a set of questions about gear you observe within a site, and associated interactions between gear and wildlife. The form should take 15-20 minutes to complete per site. Please contact caleb_spiegel@fws.gov for more information. Please note: In many jurisdictions it is unlawful to remove certain types of gear from the coast or the water without a state-issued permit, even if it appears to be discarded. Contact your local fish and wildlife agency for more information. Form designed by Meg Harrington and Helen Manning - USFWS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OMB Control No. 1018-0188 Expires 02/28/2026 NOTICES Paperwork Reduction Act Statement In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service collects information through the AGOL platform to improve our online maps, web-mapping applications, and story maps, and to respond to requests made under the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act of 1974. Information requested in this form is purely voluntary. According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor and a person is not required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. OMB has approved this collection of information and assigned Control No. 1018-0188. Estimated Burden Statement We estimate public reporting for this collection of information to average 5 minutes per response, depending on activity, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden, to the Service Information Collection Clearance Officer, Division of Policy, Performance, Risk Management, and Analytics, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, MS: PRB (JAO/3W), 5275 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041-3803, or via email at Info_Coll@fws.gov.