[ODFW-News] ODFW launches pilot program to recycle fishing tackle

[ODFW News]

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife 	
Contact: 	Anne Pressentin Young (503) 947-6020	
Internet: www.dfw.state.or.us  Fax: (503) 947-6009
	

For Immediate Release	Thursday, May 20, 2004

ODFW Launches Pilot Program to Recycle Fishing Tackle
Agency asks for anglers' help to keep Oregon's rivers clean.


SALEM - Fishing lines and lures left behind in Oregon's streams and
rivers create problems for both people and wildlife. The Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife hopes the "Keep Oregon's Rivers
Clean" pilot program will change that.

Senate Bill 748, passed into law during the 2003 legislative session,
required the agency to establish a pilot program to collect, recycle and
dispose of old fishing tackle including monofilament line, fluorocarbon
leaders, lines, lead weights and lures. 

Department biologists will be placing angling gear recycling bins at
popular fishing holes and boat ramps along the upper Rogue, North
Umpqua, North Santiam, Salmon, Sandy and Crooked rivers. Containers will
be checked for content and emptied every two weeks, and the areas around
the bins will be surveyed to determine the amount of line, tackle and
general garbage present.

According to fish biologist Chuck Fustish, ODFW's program is based on
Florida's Monofilament Recovery and Recycling Program. 

"We're excited to see how this program will work here in Oregon,"
Fustish said, "and we encourage anglers to use the recycling bins. We
all need to step up to the plate and make sure we're not damaging the
very watersheds that make Oregon so unique."

Discarded fishing gear has polluted Oregon's waterways and riparian
areas for years, sometimes causing harm to wildlife. 

"Monofilament line may snare small animals, marine mammals, birds and
waterfowl," said Tod Lum, ODFW wildlife biologist. "I've seen
birds and mammals with missing limbs from having the line wrapped around
them so tightly."

In addition to harming wildlife, discarded fishing line also gets
tangled in anglers' gear and can do serious damage to boat motors if
it gets wrapped around the propellers.

A company in the Midwest will recycle monofilament lines to create fish
habitat structures, such as cover for juvenile or spawning fish. Other
fishing gear, including lead weights, metal hooks and lures will be
recycled in Oregon.

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Information and Education Division
Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
(503) 947-6002