My Backyard

Announcing the joint partnership between the Audubon Society of Rhode Island and the RI DEM to encourage anglers to recycle fishing line and to kick off of the 2009 International Coastal Cleanup are left to right: Coastal Cleanup beach captains Doug and Deserie Waryck, RI DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan, Audubon Senior Director of Policy Eugenia Marks, and fishing line program volunteer Alex Bruder.

The Audubon Society of Rhode Island, in conjunction with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, is establishing a program to recycle monofilament fishing line to protect wildlife from becoming entangled in improperly discarded line.  RI DEM and Audubon are setting up boxes to accept snarled or used line at DEM fishing access sites throughout central Rhode Island.   A campaign to alert anglers about the recycling program will be launched on August 13 at the kickoff for the 24^th annual International Coastal Cleanup.

“Our partnership on recycling fishing line with DEM enhances the work of both organizations,” said Lawrence Taft, Executive Director of Audubon.  “Our mutual promotion of the public’s interest in wildlife is expressed in several cooperative projects.”

            “The Department of Environmental Management is pleased to partner with Audubon in the “Hold the Line” campaign to encourage anglers to recycle used fishing line in order to protect aquatic wildlife from entanglement,” said RI DEM Director W. Michael Sullivan, PhD.  “DEM has long recognized the danger that discarded fishing line poses to wildlife, and has been encouraging anglers to take particular care in disposing of monofilament fishing line.”

The International Coastal Cleanup, administered world wide by the Ocean Conservancy and locally by Audubon Society of Rhode Island, documents and draws attention to debris in marine waters as well as freshwater tributaries. Audubon trains local “beach captains” to assure that each piece of trash that is picked up is tallied on a standardized form that provides a useful snapshot of the origins of trash washing up along the shore.

In 2008, world wide, well over 400,000 volunteers collected 6.8 million pounds of trash in 104 countries and 48 states through the Ocean Conservancy.  In Rhode Island 1869 volunteers at more than 80 locations around the state picked up 13,621 pounds of trash, among which were 2,718 pieces of fishing line.  Rhode Island is 4th in the nation for the most discarded fishing line on its shores behind California, Florida, and New York.

Each year the Audubon focuses its effort one type of litter that is left on beaches to create awareness as to the dangers the items carry. Two years ago RI DEM coordinated efforts to promote “Smoke Free Beaches” at state facilities using the data that cigarette butts are the most prevalent item tallied in the International Coastal Cleanup.  This year’s target of snarled fishing line follows documentation of freshwater and marine turtle entanglement, as well as incidents of fledgling birds dying as the result of fishing line their parents brought to build nests.  When the line snares the animal, it can cause cuts leading to infection, amputation, and drowning.

The Audubon Society has created fishing line boxes that will be used for holding fishing line until retrieved. The boxes will be placed near RI DEM fishing accesses so that anglers can place tangled or cut into the boxes, with locations at Silver Spring Lake, Belleville Pond, Pottowamut Pond, and Rome Point, all in North Kingstown.  In addition DEM has installed boxes at other locations.   Volunteers will check the boxes regularly to retrieve the fishing line and prepare them for shipment to Berkley manufacturer’s Conservation Institute (www.berkley-fishing.com) where they will be converted into underwater habitat.

            The project was developed by Audubon and RI DEM thanks to the volunteer efforts of Alex P. Bruder, a University of Rhode Island graduate in Environmental Economics and Management. He has spent several years in different field areas helping to preserve the environment. Such ventures have included the Friends of National Wildlife, Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials, Narrow River Preservation Society, and Walt Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The 2009 International Coastal Cleanup will be taken place on September 19th. For more information on what you can do to help, please contact the Audubon Society of Rhode Island at 949-5454 ext 3044 or look on line at www.asri.org.