One corroded lobster trap pulled off the Gulf of Maine bottom isn't just a weight on the cleanup log. Abandoned nylon gear doesn't sit still down there. It fragments — slowly, constantly — releasing fiber into the water column for as long as it's on the seafloor. A single nylon rope can persist for 600 years. There's new coalition funding going toward ghost gear removal in the Gulf of Maine right now, which matters. Especially after the 2024 Plastics Treaty stalled out and left the enforcement gap wide open. Community-scale hauls are doing work that no regulation is currently doing. #GulfOfMaine #GhostGear #LobsterGear #Microplastics #NewEngland