I witness this all the time up here in the north part of area 7..
It gets real bad when the tribes and non tribal are switching out...

Just a few weeks ago I was heading back from the islands we are crossing the banks and we count 15 or so derilict pots.. All tribal and all been in the water a while..
Do they just write them off and get a new subsidized check to buy new pots?

( I "heard" that many of the pots had lotsa crab still in them, and the pots were only a season old)