Earlier this year, our Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund (HWF) team members were featured in a peer-reviewed research study entitled, “Source Identification of Multinational Abandoned, Lost, or Discarded Fishing Gear from the Eel and Hagfish Trap Fisheries throughout the North Pacific Ocean”.
The parts of an eel trap, as described for an article in Marine Litter News. PC to Carl Berg / Surfrider Kauaʻi.
This highly collaborative effort began in 2020, led by our friend and partner Dr. Carl Berg with the Surfrider Foundation – Kauaʻi Chapter. Carl was a man on a mission, and he set out with the goal to better understand a growing and largely overlooked threat washing up on Hawaiʻi’s shores: eel trap gear (a.k.a. hagfish traps), and aimed to reduce this problematic debris item at its source.
Eel trap project flyer created by Surfrider Fdn. Photo by Cynthia Vanderlip / DLNR.
Six years after this research begin, it was published in the journal Oceanography and Fisheries with a diverse 17-author collaboration spanning the Pacific (full article available HERE). The study was anchored by partners across Hawaiʻi (members of the Hawaiʻi Marine Debris Action Plan network – more on that HERE) — including Megan Lamson of HWF, Cynthia Welti, Scott McCubbins and Barbara Weidner of HWF and Surfrider Kauaʻi (an ongoing partnership), Cheryl King of Sharkastics on Maui, Dr. Jennifer Lynch of the Hawaiʻi Pacific University’s Center for Marine Debris Research, NOAA’s Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, and Dr. Nikolai Maximenko with University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa’s International Pacific Research Center — together with Ning Yen of the IndigoWaters Institute in Taiwan, whose work was essential to tracing the gear back to its source fisheries.
This is a first-of-its-kind study that not only documents the scale of the problem, but traces it back to its source and points to real solutions. The study brought together researchers, citizen scientists, fishing communities, nonprofits, and government agencies across the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Tens of thousands of volunteers contributed to this effort, including our beloved Board member, Alex Kelepolo :)
As this study reiterates (and our marine debris efforts continue to reveal), the ocean does not know national boundaries, and neither can our response.
We hope you will dig into the research article, but if you don’t have the time for the 32-page technical document … aʻole pilikia, we have compiled the cliffnotes:
1. The Scale of the Problem is Staggering — and Growing
More than 21,891 pieces of eel trap gear were collected from the Hawaiian Archipelago between 2021 and 2024, with a nearly six-fold surge in 2024 alone*. Estimates suggest 4 to 10 million pieces of eel trap gear are floating in the North Pacific Garbage Patch right now. This problem is not stable — it is accelerating.
Using a first-of-its-kind forensic identification framework — tracing gear from ocean basin patterns down to specific countries, manufacturers, and individual fishing communities — we have determined that the primary sources of this derelict gear are the large industrial fishing fleets of South Korea and China, operating in the East China Sea and Sea of Japan.
Pieces of eel trap fragments found in the stomach of an olive ridley turtle. PC to Paige White / HPU CMDR.
Eel trap entrances trap and kill endangered Hawaiian monk seal pups by becoming lodged on their snouts. Pieces of this gear have been found blocking the digestive tract of a sperm whale, likely causing it to starve to death. Sea turtles, dolphins, seabirds, and other protected species have all been impacted. On the ocean floor, lost traps continue ghost fishing indefinitely. As this gear breaks down into microplastics, it leaches hazardous chemicals — including phthalates, bisphenol A, and flame retardants — that enter marine food chains at every level.
4. Millions of Pieces Are Being Discarded Intentionally Every Year
Large offshore South Korean fishing vessels are estimated to discard over four million eel trap entrances into the ocean annually. This is not accidental loss — it is an economic decision. It is cheaper for vessel operators to replace gear at sea than to store and dispose of it on land. This is the tap that must be turned off.
South Korea deserves recognition for leading the way on solutions. The Korean government has mandated fleet reductions, developed biodegradable eel trap gear that sinks and breaks down in place — eliminating both ocean drift and ghost fishing — and subsidized its distribution to fishermen. Public education campaigns, including a national television program, are raising awareness in fishing communities. South Korea is proof that meaningful change is possible.
Effective solutions must work at every level: education programs delivered through fishing cooperatives to reach fishermen directly; mandatory gear marking to enable traceability and accountability; accelerated adoption of affordable, non-toxic biodegradable gear worldwide; and community beach cleanup programs across the entire North Pacific to remove gear already in the environment before it entangles or is ingested by marine life. The goal is not just to clean up the ocean — it is to stop the pollution at its source.
This project united researchers, citizen scientists, fishing communities, beach cleanup organizations, and government agencies across the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. Tens of thousands of volunteers contributed to this work. The ocean does not respect national boundaries, and neither can our response. Protecting the North Pacific requires ongoing multinational collaboration, shared accountability, and communities throughout the Pacific Basin standing up together to demand change.
