Cleanup crew

On Oct. 4, Sarasota Bay Watch held its sixth annual monofilament cleanup. The event, which drew 34 volunteers, began at the Sarasota Sailing Squadron, then volunteers dispersed by foot and boat throughout Sarasota Bay. At the same time, 18 volunteers walked the north end of Longboat Key as part of the International Coastal Cleanup.

Volunteers at the Sarasota Bay Watch event searched for discarded fishing line, which can end up entangled in mangrove trees and on docks, coastlines and many other places birds and other animals congregate. These animals can become caught in the fishing lines, and this can cause them to become stuck or starve to death.

“We’re a water community, and we love our birds and our water animals, and we also love our fishermen,” said Ronda Ryan, board member of Sarasota Bay Watch. “We’re just trying to clean up after ourselves and educate people on good practices.”

“We’ve got a lot of animals and birds that get entangled, and it’s a useless death for them,” Ryan said. “It’s a long and enduring death for them.”

In addition to cleaning up fishing materials, volunteers also picked up any trash they found.

“Any time I go out, I always find all kinds of items,” Steve Traves, board member of the Sarasota Bay Watch, said. “The last time I went out to the Sister Keys I found a toy, inflatable tire and foam noodles for a swimming pool, along with some plastic bags and a couple of beer cans. And that’s in the Sister Keys, which we clean up all the time.”

Organizers of the event also hope to raise awareness that fishermen should not entice birds with their bait, said Rusty Chinnis, former president and current board member of Sarasota Bay Watch.

“One of the first things you need to understand is to not feed the birds,” he said. “The birds get habituated to being fed, and someone will cast a line out, and the bird will dive on it and get hooked, and that’s a problem for the bird.”

Jeff Birnbach, president of Sarasota Bay Watch, said it’s important for fishermen to properly dispose of their lines and other fishing material.

“I like to think that for the most part, it’s just a lack of knowledge,” Birnbach said. “If you do hook a bird, many fishermen don’t realize that you’d unhook one just like you would a fish.”

Volunteers collected approximately 400 pounds of trash and also spotted two birds with fishing line attached to their bodies, but the birds flew away before they could help them. They also found four dead birds entangled in fishing line.

The coast is clean
Volunteers found various items, including:
111 bottle caps
72 cigarette butts
64 beverage bottles
48 straws/stirrers
34 food wrappers
25 plastic bags
16 grocery bags
10 shoes
7 paper bags
5 fishing lines
5 toys
3 diapers
2 balloons
2 fishing nets
1 life jacket