Fishing Line & Rubbish

[sam@2bentrods.com.au]

Hi Everyone,

2 Bent Rods is working with Healthy Waterways Qld on ways to reduce

rubbish in the marine environment.

Although it will cover all rubbish, 2 Bent Rods is focusing on fishing

line recovery. Apparently the line takes 600yrs to break down. There is another line on the market that only takes 6yrs. but that's still too long for the animals that get tangled in the line. Anything we can do to reduce it can only help.

I have read a bit about Berkley in the US with their fishing line

recycling program. At their cost they have put recycling boxes in a

lot a tackle stores and at fishing spots.

The line is then sent back to Berkely and they recycle it into fishing

spools, tackle boxes and fish cages/fish attracting devices.

This is the end result that I would like to see happen here. However, I am unaware of any Australian company recycling line at the moment.

In the meantime we need to come up with some ways to recover the

fishing line/rubbish. I was hoping you guys would be help out with some ideas.

We know most anglers do the right thing with your own rubbish and also

the clean up days etc., but what could we do to encourage people to

pick up other fishing line & rubbish they find?

Do you have ideas, things like.

Is there enough bins at boat ramps

Where should we have recycling points?

Should bags or buckets be supplied for the line & rubbish to go in?

What I think would work is .........?

We think that if enough people have a chat about it we should come up

with some good ideas of what we can do.

Thanks for your input

[neal82]

there are never enough bins at boat ramps

[hooked_on_trout]

I cut my line up into 2 inch pieces then chuck it into a bucket.

oops better be careful or else healthy waterways will be using that in their next report as their own IP.

Cheers

[Scope]

Like the idea of fishing line recycling bins as already mentioned

[Joel Eadie]

its a hard one cas ide say that many just wouldnt use bins even if they were 20 meters away

there was this thing in one of my fly fishing mags, sorry if you can see it very well but basically theres a rod in the middle and it spins sucking up line that is already clumped. comes out the bottom and slides out. a good idea to cut the roll in half before disposing it in the bin. though again this would only be useful for the environmentally conscientious people.

as all fly tying gear is, this is grossly over priced and not sure if they are available in aus? but its a good idea

alternativly on site limb removal for those caught littering?

[hooked_on_trout]

Scope wrote:

Like the idea of fishing line recycling bins as already mentioned

Yes they have two fishing line waste bins at the end of Wellington point jetty, sadly they are too full of coke cans and booze bottles and chip packets to hold any fishing line.

cheers

[Angus]

This is always annoying.

Some people critisise people on this site getting involved in debates like this.

But who else has a passion and thus responsibilty for our waterways than the rec fishermen.

My local at Dutton Park is always in a terrible state no matter how we leave it.

Tonnes of fast food containers, bait packets.

This however is not a boat ramp and thus unlikely if not impossible to be considered for bins etc.

With that in mind stiff fines and better education is really the only option.

Angus

[Miss Munchkin]

I know that in some places (I've only seen it at caloundra and Wellington point) they are putting up pvc pipe bins on the Jettys for fishing line and tackle, but I have also found that alot of the people end up putting other rubbish in these bins. These bins are great for places where there are pleanty of people fishing, but yet, I think there need to be more actual bins for the other rubbish in these areas aswell.

As mentioned above, some of the worst areas are those where there are no boat ramps but people fish. I have been to many places under bridges, on floating pontoons etc where there are no boat ramps and there have been so much rubbish, and some of it has already fallen into the waterways and is unreachable at times.

Stiff fines and better education would be a good answer to this issue, but then there is the problem of who will enforce these fines and better education etc, and in some cases it would be unfair if the rec fishermen get unfairly fined for rubbish left behind. With issues like this, it is hard to come up with new ways to keep people from leaving waste around waterways.

[Keen-as-fisho]

Joel Eadie wrote:

its a hard one cas ide say that many just wouldnt use bins even if they were 20 meters away

A classic example is the ramp at fishermans island. Bins beside the ramp with sh!t scatterd all around them. Biggest problem with the bins there, is the fact that the openning isn't big enough so people just dump there crap beside it.

[mongrel jack]

I applaud you guys for having a go at fixing this problem but I do believe it will be an uphill battle. Fishing recently at the Coomera we found 3 different "batches" of line all dumped within 5m of a bin! Would signage depicting images of wildlife suffering the effects of entanglement placed in popular fishing spots have any impact? I've got my 9 year old son well trained and he collects all fishing line he finds and takes it home to get rid of it - as a bonus he has gathered a nice little collection of sinkers, floats, lures, etc.... that have been attached to stray line. I don't think you will ever educate the morons that are making the mess, but if we are out fishing have a scout around before leaving a site and collect the line and take it with you to bin elsewhere. I like the idea of fining people Angus, but the resources required would never be made available, I think it comes down to educating the next generation. Every little bit helps.

Good luck Sam - I would be happy to see a resolution.

[sam@2bentrods.com.au]

Joel Eadie wrote:

its a hard one cas ide say that many just wouldnt use bins even if they were 20 meters away

there was this thing in one of my fly fishing mags, sorry if you can see it very well but basically theres a rod in the middle and it spins sucking up line that is already clumped. comes out the bottom and slides out. a good idea to cut the roll in half before disposing it in the bin. though again this would only be useful for the environmentally conscientious people.

as all fly tying gear is, this is grossly over priced and not sure if they are available in aus? but its a good idea

alternativly on site limb removal for those caught littering?

Healthy Water Ways do hand out personal ash trays for smokers, free of charge. They do this to reduce the smoke butts in the water ways.

I think that they might do well to have these produced for the fishermen as well.

[tugger]

when i go snorkling i always use it as a treasure hunt and carry a divers knife to cut away fishing line that gets snaggged on rocks and other structure. with in this line i find loads of sinkers, lures and other tackle for my own use then dispose of the line. the sinkers also would not brake down and i hope this does my bit for the enviroment, once i was diving with scuba gear and found a clump of line that large snagged on rocks i cut away. even inflating my bcd and finning as hard as i could i could not reach the surface so i walked it along the bottom to the nearest bank. after hours back at camp and many beers later i cut out half a bucket of lead and binned the line.

[Joel Eadie]

sam@2bentrods.com.au wrote:

Joel Eadie wrote:

its a hard one cas ide say that many just wouldnt use bins even if they were 20 meters away

there was this thing in one of my fly fishing mags, sorry if you can see it very well but basically theres a rod in the middle and it spins sucking up line that is already clumped. comes out the bottom and slides out. a good idea to cut the roll in half before disposing it in the bin. though again this would only be useful for the environmentally conscientious people.

as all fly tying gear is, this is grossly over priced and not sure if they are available in aus? but its a good idea

alternativly on site limb removal for those caught littering?

Healthy Water Ways do hand out personal ash trays for smokers, free of charge. They do this to reduce the smoke butts in the water ways.

I think that they might do well to have these produced for the fishermen as well.

argeed, they could be made as simple as they wanted and so cheaply.

melt down a couple hundred meters of mono and make them out of that

[chris_stewart14]

It sounds anal as hell but I am a stickler for rubbish and hate it. In recent times I have even taken to making sure I put my little line offcutting's in my bag. I.e. The 2-6 inches you usually snip off when tying a knot.

It actually amazed me when you empty your bag out after two trips just how much debris I used to let float away with the wind.

Every little bit helps.