With a new $300,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy, the UC Davis Wildlife Health Center will deploy divers along the coast from the Channel Islands to the Oregon border to clean up lost and abandoned fishing gear, which can be dangerous to wildlife, boaters and divers.

The Wildlife Health Center's marine ecosystem health program, the SeaDoc Society, will gather up "derelict" fishing nets, lines, pots and other commercial and recreational fishing gear that is lying on the sea floor, caught on rocky reefs or floating in the water.

Similar efforts in Washington and Hawaii have removed hundreds of tons of debris but this will be the first such project in California. SeaDoc staff plan to measure the amount of derelict gear in California coastal waters and develop and test methods to remove it.

"Derelict gear lasts in the marine environment for years, and can entangle and drown fish and other animals and damage underwater habitat," said SeaDoc Society executive director Kirsten Gilardi. "This California Coastal Conservancy support lets us begin to characterize the problem and work on solutions."

Surveys will begin in September; clean-ups will begin later in the fall. The pilot project will focus on locating and removing gear around Santa Catalina Island, in Morro Bay, in Monterey Bay and along the Humboldt County coast.

The conservancy funding is provided through Proposition 40, a resources bond act approved by state voters in 2002. The Laurel Foundation (South Pasadena, Calif.) gave $30,000 in 2003 and 2004 to support the planning stages. Additional support will come from the Northwest Straits Commission (Mount Vernon, Wash.).

The SeaDoc Society is a program of the Wildlife Health Center at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. SeaDoc's mission is to ensure the health of marine wildlife and ecosystems through science and education.

The California Coastal Conservancy is a state agency that works to protect and improve the coast and San Francisco Bay. The conservancy has helped open more than 100 miles of coast and bay shores to the public and preserve more than 150,000 acres of wetlands, wildlife habitat, parks and farmland.