2021 Monofilament Fishing Line Recycling Project
The Friends of Waterbury Reservoir is committed to protecting and preserving the wildlife that shares this amazing resource with us. In recent years, we have noticed a lot of fishing line and tackle discarded carelessly at access areas, and in foliage along the shoreline. This material has the potential to cause injury or even death to our birds and aquatic mammals. This potential for harm became a reality in 2020 when a cormorant became entangled in discarded fishing line on the reservoir. The bird faced a slow and painful death by starvation, but our hero Ranger Chad Ummel managed to catch the bird and free it from its entanglements.
Visitors to the reservoir have been enthralled by our eagles, loons, herons, and more…each of which faces the same risks as the rescued cormorant. In Vermont, numerous loons have had to be rescued from fishing line in the past few years, and one recently was severely injured by a discarded lure. We looked for a way to prevent any bird or animal tragedies on the Waterbury Reservoir. We decided to take the approach of offering a safe and easy way for anglers to dispose of unwanted fishing line, and to institute a campaign emphasizing the dangers posed to wildlife by improperly discarded fishing line and tackle.
In other states, monofilament line recycling bins have been installed at popular fishing sites. BoatUS Foundation provides plans for such bins, as well as stickers and signage to be placed near their locations. (https://www.boatus.org/clean-boating/recycling/fishing-line-recycling/) FWR thought this might be a good project for us! We received approval from Vermont State Parks to install the bins at 3 locations, on a trial basis. We all had concerns about vandalism and improper use of the bins for trash disposal and agreed to check the bins a few times each week.