Subject: Re: Abandoned Gill Nets (fishing line too!)
Date: Dec 22 21:19:00 1997
From: PAGODROMA - PAGODROMA at aol.com


97-12-22, Maureen Ellis writes:

<< Not only gill nets, but vast tangles of discarded fishing line also
threaten diving sea birds and marine mammals. Sadly, I have seen drowned
grebes around the fishing pier at the Des Moines, WA, Marina with their legs
wrapped in fishing line. What can be done to remove this stuff? >>

This is a horrible problem everywhere. There are laws on the books
prohibiting the discarding of fishing gear and there are stiff penalties
assessed to those offenders that are caught. But catching someone and tracing
the gear back to some one individual is too often all but impossible. Apart
from irresponsible discarding of such fishing gear, some still gets away due
to storms or some mechanical malfunction. Clean up after the fact is a
continual ongoing thing I'm afraid. As to what you or anyone might do to
remove it is pretty down to earth, dirty, and hands on. Just pick it up if
you can -- even just small pieces -- every little bit helps, and discard it
properly. It's the monofilament mesh and line which is most deadly. For the
really large mats that are way too heavy to recover, then perhaps you can find
a sensitive fisherman friend to help or report it to the Coast Guard. There
are probably other places as well to seek help. If it's just individual birds
that you are inquiring about Irene, then there's not much you can do other
than catch the bird and physically remove the offending fishing line, and then
there are even federal and state laws that technically even prohibit molesting
birds and some wildlife even in these situations without a proper officially
issued permit.

There is nowhere more appalling than the miles and miles of desolate beaches
and shorelines all through the Aleutian Islands, and at it's worst around
Unalaska, the Alaska Peninsula, Gulf of Alaska, and adjacent islands. I
landed once on St. Augustine (smoldering volcano) by helicopter about 15 years
or so ago, went for a walk on the beach, and was just flabbergasted by the
amount of fishing gear covering the ocean beaches. For as far as the eye could
see, the pristine white but green hummocked beaches gradually turned to a
shade of uniform pale green in the distance with all the renegade washed up
fishing and netting material, much of which containing dead birds, pinnipeds,
and other marine life. And that was just what was visible on the surface
where below lies tons more. Each time there is a storm, it all gets shuffled
around and recycled back out to sea to keep on killing. Even as recent as a
July-August marine mammal survey in Bristol Bay, I was amazed by the thousands
of orange fishing floats lining the inside shores of the Alaska Peninsula,
Bristol Bay, and Unamak Pass. Someone could become quite a successful
entrepreneur just by collecting and recycling all those floats and reselling
them. The remote Alaskan shoreline is a disaster! I could go on and on about
this and the problem worldwide and clog the listserv forever, but it's too
depressing and I'm too tired right now to continue.

In the longrun over time, the damage this stuff can do the environment far
exceeds that of a short term oil spill -- even the "Exxon Valdez" and much
worse ones. With oil spills, the incident and it's immediate effect is
blatantly visible, it's usually easy to find a scapegoat, then everyone can
all rally together in a hot emotional scream fest. At least the oil breaks
down over time and is consumed or absorbed. The plastic from fishing gear
never will. Even when the offending net or line is finally broken up, the
plastic and nylon remains forever in the form of tiny tiny pellets. The
entire surface of the world's oceans are covered with this stuff all just
awaiting for something to come along and mistakenly eat it thinking it was a
jellyfish or copepod or something. Stomachs of turtles become impacted, the
animal dies. Those excreted are just recycled back around again awaiting the
next unsuspecting victim. Quite literally, on this grand scale, a solution
*is* hopeless. We've all done screwed up already and it's irreversible. The
best we can do now is to just not make it worse and continue cleaning up as
best we can.

As for the Puget Sound and Washington's inside waters, I think the majority of
fishermen are very responsible. Still incidences do occur and we all
encounter such debris in our outdoor outings. Apart from what I mentioned
about just doing what you can and enlisting aid from other sources, there's
likely some other tweeter here who should have some additional and perhaps
better suggestions. There is an online discussion group dealing with this
very issue and that of driftnet bycatch where I'm sure you could seek some
help and perhaps find some answers. I've seen it mentioned on tweeters but
forget right now what the address is. Some tweeters must know for sure, some
I think are even subscribed as I believe this might even be a U-dub based
group. Now I am fried. Night all. --Richard

Richard Rowlett (Pagodroma at aol.com)
47.56N, 122.13W
(Seattle/Bellevue, WA USA)