“It’s a complicated issue,” he said. “And it’s not going to go away.”
Ummm.... no it’s not. And yes, it will.
ALL modern traps used (at least for crab) have a good sized hole built into them. To use the traps, you have to tie some cotton twine back and forth across the hole so if a crab goes in the main door, he can’t get out.
After a few days underwater, the twine will decompose and the crabs/lobsters will simply swim out.
As far as old traps go - does the writer have even the tiniest clue HOW ABSOLUTELY CORROSIVE SEA WATER IS?
Don’t think so!
IN the KEys, lobster traps are generally wood, and rot after a while. I’d actually just pull planks off of lost traps, and turn them into “lobster havens” they could enter and leave.
But in the Bahamas, they used rubber-dipped galvy steel mesh. Those suckers would last for DECADES, killing generation after generation of lobsters.