EASTHAM – Wild Care, a wildlife rehabilitation center in Eastham, is preparing to launch their new program “Trash Your Tackle”.
The initiative aims to set up five PVC receptacles located in separate locations around the town of Chatham.
These receptacles are a way to dispose of lost or abandoned fishing gear like hooks, lines, and sinkers. The aim to get them safely out of the environment and away from wildlife that they could potentially injure.
“What people don’t realize, when you think about fishing debris people often think about large nets and derelict lobster traps-and those things are also causing negative impact-but fishing line, hooks, jigs, and sinkers on the beaches, they can also become entangled in those,” said Executive Director of Wild Care Stephanie Ellis.
“Fishing lures look shiny and are attractive to birds. So I think it’s incredibly important to get the stuff out of the environment,” said Ellis.
The receptacles will be emptied weekly by Cape Abilities volunteers and then processed at the Wild Car center, where the items will be weighed, categorized, cleaned, recycled, or disposed of in the appropriate manner if necessary.
“I anticipate that over the next few years we’ll see a decrease in fishing debris related injuries in Chatham. It can only lead to good things and awareness for the public that these items are harmful when they’re in the environment,” said Ellis.
For more information, contact Executive Director Stephanie Ellis at 508-240-2255, or by email at [email protected].
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