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Zimo: Birds Are Harmed By Fishing Line; Bins Provide Solution

Posted on: Monday, 3 April 2006, 03:03 CDT

By Pete Zimowsky, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Apr. 2--Monofilament fishing line kills. Some anglers don't get it: If you leave your tangled line on the banks of a lake or stream, it's going to kill wildlife.

Jacqueline Burnell, a Boise State University student, recently took a photo of a Canada goose with fishing line around its neck. The bird was along the Boise Greenbelt east of BSU.

Researchers say monofilament fishing line can last hundreds of years.

"The bird flew away as we got close, but I bet this one dies with the line wrapped around its neck," said Jacqueline's dad, Barry Burnell. He sent in the photo.

Monofilament line kills geese in Idaho and bald eagles in Arizona.

Small songbirds can fly into a spider web of line hanging on a tree branch, get tangled and die.

Waterfowl can get it wrapped around the neck or legs. As the line gets tighter it cuts viciously into the flesh of the birds.

Even big birds such as eagles fall prey to fishing line. Eagles and other fish-eating raptors have ingested line from fish.

Starvation is the most common death for wildlife tangled in monofilament, according to conservation agencies around the country. It either wraps around the neck or gets clogged in the stomach, preventing ingestion of food.

A study of Arizona's breeding population of bald eagles showed that nearly half of the areas where eagles had built nests had reported cases of monofilament entanglement or the presence of line in nests. Arizona Game and Fish Department had a report of two bald eaglets that died from starvation because of monofilament.

Wildlife deaths from monofilament are gruesome.

There is a solution. When I visit my mom in Florida, I'm amazed at the number of fishing line recycling bins at fishing areas.

Statesman outdoors writer Roger Phillips saw one on the banks of the North Umpqua River in Oregon.

A lot of states are taking the problem seriously, including Oregon, Montana, Arizona and Florida.

Fishing line manufacturers including Stren and Berkley convert recycled monofilament into tackle boxes, lures, and other plastic items.

Berkley makes recycled plastic 4-foot cubes, called Fish-Hab, which are used for underwater structures to provide habitat or hiding places for fish.

In promoting fishing line recycling, Berkley's Pure Fishing Program has recycled 9 million miles of fishing line since the program began in 1990. That's enough to fill two reels for every angler in the United States.

During its pilot monofilament recycling project, Montana installed 30 to 40 recycling stations constructed of PVC pipe at Montana State Parks and fishing access sites. The Montana Wildlife Federation is working with the Montana state agency on the project.

I haven't heard of an organized statewide effort in Idaho to recycle fishing line.

The fishing line recycling receptacles I saw in Florida were simple pipe-like devices. They were constructed of 6-inch PVC sewer pipe and stood about 3-feet tall. That's it. Take a 3-foot piece of pipe, close off the bottom with a cap and put an elbow piece on top.

When I first looked into it, the cost to build one with pieces of pipe from a hardware store would be around $16. They probably can be made cheaper in bulk or with donations from businesses.

It's a cool idea. I wrote about it a couple of years ago. Some of the receptacles are maintained by fishing clubs, and in some cases, counties pick up the fishing line from the containers when crews are emptying garbage cans at recreation sites.

It's not an easy project. It would take an effort by state conservation groups, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, city parks departments and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation to get some kind of fishing line disposal and recycling program going.

In the meantime, you can send your recycled fishing line directly to Berkley at Berkley Recycling, 1900 18th St., Spirit Lake, Iowa 51360.

But wouldn't it be cool to see fishing line recycling bins along the Boise River, the Little Salmon River and near local fishing ponds and reservoirs?

The time is ripe. Just look at the photo of the Canada goose submitted by Jacqueline Burnell.

It's one thing to see monofilament line lying on the ground. It's another to see it actually slowly killing a beautiful critter.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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