Recently The Mission-Aransas Reserve and a few other organizations, created a video to show what it would be like to live entangled in fishing line.
Recycle Fishing Line – Protect Marine Animals
What would it be like to live entangled in fishing line? This is what wildlife feels like when we leave our fishing line on the ground and they get tangled up in it. #recyclefishingline #seaturtles #tangledbirds This project was supported by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in partnership with University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Mission-Aransas Reserve, Surfrider Foundation-TX Coastal Bend, Texas Sea Grant, Texas Parks and Wildlife, Coastal Conservation Association Corpus Christi Chapter, @Padre Island NS Division of Sea Turtle Science & Recovery, and the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program. @Carlos Haney at Enlightened Images this funny, but real scenario video. Want more information on recycling fishing line, trash, marine debris, etc? Visit www.MissionAransas.org
Posted by Mission-Aransas Reserve on Wednesday, August 8, 2018
KRIS 6 spoke with some of the staff at Mission-Aransas Reserve and the Amos Rehabilitation Keep, about the common threat to our wildlife: fishing line entanglement. They say the entangled Facebook video had a light-hearted note to it, but definitely strikes a cord in showing how often this happens.
Whether it’s pelicans, shore birds or turtles, fishing line can threaten any animal.
Katie Swanson, Stewardship Coordinator with Mission-Aransas Reserve at the University of Texas Marine Science Center, says cutting your line causes different threats.
“If you lose your hook and your monofilament in the water, what’s likely going to happen is it’ll attract some type of wildlife and then they’re potentially going to get hooked and entangled,” Swanson said.
Alicia Walker, Program Coordinator with ARK, says they have helped rescue around 50 to 60 entanglement cases.
“One of the great things, is when you can rescue a turtle, and with medicine and care, we’re able to save that flipper,” Walker said. “That’s a really good feeling. And then to release that turtle back into the wild.”
There have been plenty of cases that Walker has seen where a turtle is so entanglement and couldn’t be saved.
This is why recycling fishing line has become an important mission for the organizations at the UT Marine Science Center.
However, the center stresses that monofilament line should not be put in to a regular home recycling bin.
Recycle fishing line through specified recycling bins that are typically found near boat ramps or fishing piers.
