Fishing Line and Marine Debris polluting our waters
It's a fact, our public landings and local waterways have become home to growing amounts of discarded fishing line and other plastic debris. During recent trash clean ups at Piney Narrows, our small group of volunteers collected disproportionate amounts of discarded fishing line just waiting to be swept into the Bay during the next rainfall. What was observed at this fishing pier is common at many fishing piers in Queen Anne's County.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) Marine Debris Program, “Marine debris is a threat to our environment, navigation safety, fish and wildlife, and potentially human safety and health. Huge amounts of consumer plastics, metals, rubber, paper, textiles, derelict fishing gear, vessels, and other lost or discarded items enter the marine environment every day, making marine debris one of the most widespread pollution problems facing the world's oceans and waterways.”
Although the worldwide statistics are daunting, we can start by making a difference locally. Fishing responsibly means knowing that discarded fishing line and gear can cause needless deaths to wildlife. Fishermen who collect and remove all fishing line and gear, leaving nothing behind, are role models for responsible fishing.
To help raise awareness, PFQAC and the Public Landings division of QAC Parks and Recreation Department have joined forces to install fishing line receptacles and launch a county-wide “fishing responsibly” awareness campaign scheduled to kick off in early Spring of 2021.
Stay tuned for more information! Be sure to sign up for our monthly newsletter and join our Facebook and Instagram pages here to learn more.
Thank you to Queen Anne’s County Public Landings for working together to take action in QAC!
To learn more about this extensive marine debris problem read here ...
https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/discover-issue