On my earlier outing on the Dempsey with the DEP,( http://www.ctfisherman.com/ubbthreads/ub...5044#Post965044 ) they hauled in a number of "ghost" pots. I also asked if they could be removed but aside from the lack of storage space the answer was that since they still had the owners tags on them it could be seen as stealing them. They might even be abandoned but they still belonged to somebody else, so they were disabled and returned to the water.

I knew that this would not be very good for anyone fishing in that area but there was nothing else to do with them and still be legal.