In an effort to eliminate the damage that discarded monofilament fishing line can cause to birds, marine life and the environment, a Louisiana town is launching the state’s first fishing line recycling program, reports the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
The Audubon Nature Institute has set up two specially designed recycling bins to collect the plastic material at Bogue Falaya Park and the Menetre Park Public Boat Launch, two popular fishing spots in Covington, a small town about 40 miles outside New Orleans.
The fishing line collected through the program is sent to nearby Berkley Fishing, where it is reused for artificial fish structures and other fishing equipment, the paper reports.
Covington is the first New Orleans community to support the Monofilament Recovery & Recycling Program. Started in Florida more than 10 years ago, the program is designed to educate the public about the environmental problems associated with improperly discarded fishing line.
Ben Martino, an aquarist with the nature institute who is heading up the program, told the Times-Picayune he was granted permission to pilot the effort in his hometown and hopes to eventually place additional recycling containers throughout the New Orleans area.
“We wanted to start raising awareness of how bad monofilament line is for the environment,” Martino told the paper. “This is just the very beginning, but we hope to spread the word and expand.”