TIERRA VERDE — I consider myself a pretty good caster, but occasionally I do snag a mangrove. I take great care when removing the lure, partly because I'm a cheapskate and can't stand losing a $7 MirrOlure. But I also know that fishing line kills.
On a warm September morning 20 years ago, I was touring the small islands of Tampa Bay, rookeries where pelicans and other birds come to raise their young. My friend Peter Clark, a biologist who had just started a non-profit called Tampa Bay Watch, wanted to show me first-hand what old monofilament fishing line can do.
"We find these all the time," he said, pointing to an emaciated pelican hanging from a tree. "He probably got hooked at a pier, flew here and got tangled in the tree and eventually starved to death."
Even though I had spent years on the water, and fished everywhere from the Outback of Australia to the Mountains of Maine, I'd never really thought about what a few feet of discarded fishing line could do.
Discarded fishing line and other marine debris is not just a local issue; it is a worldwide problem. There's an estimated 14 billion pounds of trash dumped in oceans every year. Since most manmade garbage is not biodegradable, it can go on killing for years.
That is why Clark and the staff at Tampa Bay Watch are partnering with Audubon Florida to recruit boaters and anglers with shallow-draft vessels to clean Tampa Bay's colonial bird nesting islands and shorelines Sept. 27 through Oct. 5 as part of the 21st Annual Monofilament Cleanup. From 2001-12, volunteers have removed more than 26,000 pounds of trash during the fall cleanups.
An estimated 100,000 marine animals and 2 million sea birds die each year from eating or becoming entangled in marine debris. Birds hooked around fishing piers or by anglers in boats are a particular problem because they can take the fishing line back to their roosts and ultimately endanger the lives of other animals.
Tampa Bay has some of the most important bird colonies in Florida. The National Audubon Society's Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries provide homes to more than 50,000 breeding pairs of birds of 25 species, many of which are considered endangered, threatened or species of special concern.
This month, an 11-month-old female bottlenose dolphin calf was freed from fishing gear that could have severed her tail, similar to what happened to Winter, the marine mammal of Dolphin Tale fame. The dolphin, nicknamed Skipper, was rescued in Little Marco Pass in Collier County.
"People need to fish smart, follow the rules and regulations, and clean up after themselves and then they won't have a negative impact on the environment," said Melinda Spall, an environmental specialist with Tampa Bay Watch. "We collected more than 7,000 feet of line and found 20 dead birds at our cleanup last fall."
Anglers can do their share by putting all discarded fishing line in "montubes" found on local fishing piers. In the past 10 months alone, nearly 35,000 feet of line has been collected from the tubes maintained by Bay Watch volunteers who have taken responsibility, or adopted a monotube. If you'd like to help, all you have to do is monitor and collect fishing line from a tube near you then deliver it to Tampa Bay Watch, where it will be sent out for recycling.
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Explore all your optionsTampa Bay Watch volunteers maintain 117 fishing line recycling stations around Tampa Bay. Collected fishing line is sent to Berkley Fishing Company, berkley-fishing.com, where it is re-spooled or melted down and recycled into fishing equipment.
To volunteer for the cleanup, contact mspall@tampabaywatch.org or call (727) 867-8166, ext. 243.