Gary Lee installs a line collection canister at the Fourth Lake Access to Alger Island
A fishing line recycling container was recently installed on the shore of Fulton Chain of Lakes to encourage the proper disposal of fishing line and hopefully save some Loons and other wildlife from injury or death.
It is located at the Fourth Lake Alger Island State Camp-ground Boat Launch.
The canister, installed by Gary Lee of Inlet, is the first in this area and part of the Fishing Line Recycling Program sponsored by Biodiversity Research Institute’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation.
In recent years, there has been an increasing number of incidences of Loons and other wildlife becoming entangled in fishing line left behind or improperly disposed of, said Loon expert Nina Schoch.
She reported that in the last few years the number of calls regarding injured Loons has increased from four or five a year to over 20.
More than half of the calls are related to fishing lines.
Schoch, who is also coordinator for BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation, spoke about Loons, their behavior, lifecycle, lead fishing weights and mercury and the threats from fishing line at a Science on Sunday lecture at View on July 7th.
During the presentation, Schoch introduced the Adirondack Park-wide fishing line recycling program and displayed a recycling container. She also announced an annual competition where prizes will be awarded to organizations and individuals who collect the most fishing line.
Lake associations, fish and game clubs and other organizations and individuals can request to sponsor recycling containers from BRI’s Adirondack Center for Loon Conservation.
Sponsors are responsible for installing and maintaining the container and collecting and recycling the line from the container. Forty to 50 containers have already been distributed to sponsors throughout the park.
“Citizen involvement is immensely helpful because of our small staff and the large area to cover. The more people involved with picking up fishing line and other debris, the cleaner the park will be,” Schoch said.
More information about the fishing line program is available by calling (888) 749-5666 ext. 145, online at www.briloon.org/adkloon, or email adkloon@briloon.org.
