Tangle Free Waters (TFW) is a program to reduce, remove and recycle fishing line from Eastern Sierra waterways. Its purpose is to establish a program dedicated to the reduction and removal of monofilament line from the waterways of Mono and Inyo Counties and to keep it out of landfills by means of recycling.
Fishing line left underwater takes up to 600 years to biodegrade, snagging more fishing line and other debris. This causes hazards to boat propellers, wildlife, pets and people, all of which can be tangled in onshore or underwater line and hooks: in the case of wildlife, this is often fatal. Monofilament line left behind on land creates the same hazards (except to boat propellers) with the additional element of accelerated degradation of the line into micro plastic possibly impacting water quality. There is a need for a well-established, comprehensive, and sustainable program to deal with monofilament line in Eastern Sierra waterways.
ROLG Volunteers kayak around the lakes and pull fishing line out at several of the popular fishing spots: Convict Lake, the Mammoth Lakes, the June Lake Loop, and the Virginia Lakes.
There have been past and current efforts to deal with fishing line, but the efforts have been piecemeal and not sustainable. For example, forty fishing line recycling tubes have been installed throughout Mono & Inyo Counties by the Fly Fishers International Program, but maintenance of the tubes was not consistent and some tubes became unusable or, if maintained, materials were not always recycled.
There are several local businesses with indoor bins where line can be dropped off or collected from in-store re-spooling services. Several businesses have organized collection efforts which range from annual cleanup events to handing out free fishing tackle to anyone who does their own mini-cleanup. These efforts could be expanded to all commercial enterprises which cater to the fishing public. Perhaps a ‘Green Fish Certification’ could be developed for businesses working to reduce environmental impacts.
Recycling
The Berkley Conservation Institute, created by the Berkley Company, marketers of fishing tackle, has a program to recycle fishing line. Through their conservation foundation they fund a recycling center which collects monofilament line, melts it down into pellets and creates new products such as fish habitat boxes. They also provide, free of charge, recycling bins for stores and pre-paid mailers for collected line.
The Reel In & Recycle program was created by the Boat US Foundation. They provide schematics for producing PVC pipe recycling tubes that can be easily installed at fishing hotspots. They also sell signage and decals for the tubes on their website.
Mammoth Lakes Recreation Takes On TFW
The idea for this program was created by two members of the Range of Light Group, Jayne Kenyon and Janet Barth. It was then passed on to Matt Paruolo of Mammoth Lakes Recreation for implementation. Matt obtained a grant from the Mono County Wildlife Commission which covers the building, installation and signage for Fishing Line Recycling Tubes (FLRTS) at fishing hot spots and has been busy building and installing FLRTS. A key element of the program will be to sign up volunteers to adopt a tube(s) and/or maintain it. If interested, please sign up! - https://mammothlakesrecreation.org/tangle-freewaters-2/.