An O-Fish-al Fishing Line Recycling Receptacle at Sugar Pine Reservoir

Story by Sophie Hamann, Deputy Public Affairs Officer and Electra Cassano, Public Affairs Intern  

It’s a clear, beautiful morning at Sugar Pine Reservoir on the Tahoe National Forest. Birds are singing, fish are biting and the sun is shining. 

Things seem to be going well, until your fishing line is snagged on something. What could it be? Is it a scrumptious rainbow trout? No, it’s a wad of tangled fishing line. Later that day, a group of kids are down the beach when suddenly, one of them is ensnared by a vicious tangle of fishing line, bringing an abrupt end to the peaceful afternoon. Meanwhile, a ground squirrel is sporting a brand-new necktie that is made up of what? You guessed it, fishing line.  

The journey of an abandoned fishing line doesn’t end when it is thrown on the ground or cut loose from your pole.  “It travels down waterways from upland lakes and streams, eventually making its way to marinas and bays. Once in the ocean, a monofilament line can take hundreds of years to decompose” says Dan Teater, Fisheries Biologist for the American River Ranger District.  “Even when it does break down, the microscopic plastic pieces can be ingested, causing impacts to aquatic and terrestrial wildlife.” 

 

To help reduce this problem on the Tahoe National Forest, the American River Ranger District has partnered with Foresthill High School to install and maintain a fishing line recycling receptacle for tangled, used or snagged lines at Sugar Pine Reservoir. “The Foresthill High School has an active and very successful science program,” says Teater, who often gets inquiries about student volunteer projects and thought this would be a good fit.  

With the help of the student volunteers, the receptacle is emptied twice a month. Deposited lines are shipped off to Berkley Fishing, an organization that collects used monofilament lines, melts them down and recycles them into items like fishing line spools and tackle boxes.   

Thanks to this new program and student volunteers, recreational experiences and watershed health can be greatly improved by the simple act of collecting used fishing line. If the recycling program at Sugar Pine Reservoir is successful, fishing line receptacles will be installed at other popular fishing sites around the Tahoe National Forest.