Guest Editorial - The Line Recycle Program
Published at the Fishrap Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007
As reprinted by permission from the Author
Ken Jones, President
United Pier & Shore Anglers of California
ken.jones@upsac.org
The fact that all anglers need to be good stewards of ocean waters
should be obvious. It's important for the environment and critical
given the scrutiny of past and present angler actions by those who
do not fish. Too often, anglers have been seen as abusers of the
environment instead of its protectors and that has to change if
angling is to continue in California.
It's also important given the fact that the Marine Life Protection Act is working its way to Southern California. Agreement and compromise will only take place if all parties have trust in one another. One way to develop that trust and confidence is to show that anglers are already doing things that help preserve the ecosystem of the ocean and its various critters.
These thoughts were reinforced this past year on a visit to the Malibu Pier shortly after they opened the end section of the pier. I found myself sharing a quiet morning out at the end with a few anglers and some seagulls. The pier was freshly painted, construction was still going on, and there were new benches and trash cans. What shouldn't have surprised me, but did, was the amount of fishing line laying on the deck of the pier. Single strands of monofilament as well as bird-nest-tangles of line were laying near my feet.
I say I should not have been surprised because I had seen line laying on several piers during my trip - Ocean Beach Pier, Newport Pier, Hermosa Beach Pier, Santa Monica Pier and so forth. The line reminded me of recent attempts to ban fishing at Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara and at the Santa Cruz Wharf. In both cases, it was because of the number of pelicans that had been lost due to monofilament entanglements. It's a common problem and one that anglers need to address.
I may not have had as much awareness about the line, though, if my organization, United Pier and Shore Anglers of California (UPSAC), was not involved in trying to improve the situation.
Two years ago, one of UPSAC's members, Mike Spence, built and installed a fishing line recycling bin at Guadalupe Beach in Santa Barbara County. He then brought a similar bin down to UPSAC's booth at the Fred Hall Show in Long Beach as well as pictures of several birds that had been strangled by fishing line.
UPSAC members soon questioned why we couldn't place such bins at other piers along the coast. But where would we get the funding?
Luckily, just up the aisle was the booth of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) manned in part by Marty Golden, the Pacific Coast Recreational Fisheries coordinator for the NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). He was passing out pamphlets telling how to protect birds from monofilament line and hooks. It seemed a natural.
We discussed how fishing line discarded into the environment is very slow to degrade and may entangle diving birds, fish, invertebrates (crabs, lobsters, etc.), turtles, marine mammals and even swimmers and divers.
I also learned that NOAA has a Marine Debris Program and that grants might be available to help fund a project. One thing led to another, and soon UPSAC made a grant proposal to install 40 line recycle bins along California's coast from San Diego to San Francisco, mainly at piers, but also at some seashore locations.
That grant was approved in mid-2006 and soon the real work began. Construction of the bins was one matter. Gaining permission to install the bins required a partnership and legal agreements with the various cities and counties along the coast. Those permissions proved more difficult than the building of the bins themselves which, given the legal worries of our society, was perhaps to be expected. Today, a majority of the bins have been placed and agreements are in place for almost all the remaining bins.
The bins are intended for one thing, the placement of excess fishing line that otherwise would wind up in a trash can - or on the ground. Our hope is that the bins will provide less entanglement for birds and, when the line is sent to Pure Fishing (Berkley Fishing Line) for recycling, the monofilament can be reused in an ecological manner.
Six bins will be placed at piers managed by the San Diego Unified Port District as well as six at Long Beach piers. Bins are already placed at the Redondo Beach Pier, the Sportfishing Pier in Redondo Beach, the Malibu Pier, several beaches in Santa Barbara County, Goleta Pier and many piers to the north in San Francisco and San Francisco Bay.
Of course, it's still up to anglers to use the bins and not abuse them. Some people stick trash in them, and two have already been broken necessitating repair. But the mission is an important one, and we will continue to work on keeping the line away from the birds. It's the right thing to do and continues the work that UPSAC and many other angling organizations have long done to be the true stewards of the ocean.
For more information about these programs, visit
www.upsac.org/
Ken Jones, President, United Pier and Shore Anglers of California