Author: fishleadfree1

Tackle boxes for campers

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One of the big accomplishments for the Fish Lead-Free team this summer has been the donation of “starter kits” with lead-free tackle to the Hooked on Fishing – Not on Drugs program run by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. We are proud to be working with a program that aims to promote family togetherness through fishing! Starting next week, children participating in HOF will receive their own tackle box with the Fish Lead-Free logo on it, and a sampling of tackle made with non-lead materials. We also included information about how to find online retailers and how to learn more about the importance of lead-free fishing!

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A close up of the materials included in each tackle box – a bumper sticker, lead-free sinkers and jig heads, and information about how to find out more on our website!

We are excited to be able to provide these materials to new anglers, and we hope that they take these tackle boxes with them and share what they learn with their peers! We were able to give several hundred boxes to the HOF program, and we will continue to use the extras during our presentations and other events.

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The boxes all stacked up and ready to go!

Thanks to those at Maine Audubon who took an hour out of their afternoon to help us with all the assembly! And thank you to the HOF program for working hard to help children learn valuable life skills through fishing; we are happy to be collaborating with such a great program. If you are interested in learning more about the Hooked on Fishing program, click here. And as always if you are interested in someone from the Fish Lead-Free program coming to your event, please contact us at fishleadfree@maineaudubon.org.

Happy fishing!

-Emily

 

A busy summer for the Fish Lead-Free team!

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This has been a busy few weeks for the Fish Lead-Free team based in Maine! A few weeks ago, we gave a presentation and hosted a lead tackle exchange at the Tacoma Lakes Association in Litchfield, ME at their annual meeting. I loved the chance to talk to residents who lived and worked around these lakes, and see how invested they are in protecting the local ecosystems! Then, two weeks ago we travelled to Hope, ME, and hosted another tackle exchange with a presentation at the annual meeting of the Megunticook Watershed Association at the beautiful Camp Bishopwood! Once again, we got to learn about the status of these lakes, and help people understand how to protect the wildlife (especially loons) by fishing with lead-free tackle.

Our latest adventure took place in Rangeley, ME. I was invited to speak at the annual “Special Loon and Eagle Program” hosted by Rangeley Region Lake Cruises and the Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum. This was a fantastic day of outdoor education, starting with Lisa Kane, Education Coordinator from Maine DIFW, presenting about loons and eagles. Then I partnered with Joe Roy from BioDiversity Research Institute to discuss the Annual Loon Count, the many threats facing loons, and then covered the dangers of fishing with lead tackle and the ways that we can all help to encourage lead-free fishing! We finished with a beautiful guided tour of Rangeley Lake where we saw loons, eagles, osprey, and other wildlife.

And we have an upcoming event! On August 2nd at 7pm, I will be presenting “The State of Maine’s Loons” at the Somes Meynell Wildlife Sanctuary in Mt. Desert, ME. I will be talking about the efforts that Fish Lead-Free has been involved with, and discuss the Loon Count, loon mortality study, and the many threats that loons face today (both natural and man-made).  We will also be getting an update on the loon population within the Somes Meynell Sanctuary, including the 14 chicks that hatched this year! Seating is limited, for more information on the event contact the sanctuary at (207)-244-4027.

If you are interested in having someone from the Fish Lead-Free team come and speak at an event you are hosting, please contact fishleadfree@maineaudubon.org! We love having the opportunity to travel and speak to groups about loon population ecology, lead impacts on loons, and giving updates on the changing legislation on lead tackle use.

Emily

A Good Day for Loons – Harry Vogel, Senior Biologist and Exec. Director of LPC

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We have a sneak peak of the Summer 2016 Loon Preservation Committee (LPC) newsletter! The Executive Director and Senior Biologist at LPC Harry Vogel shares his thoughts on the recent legislative changes to the use and sale of lead tackle in New Hampshire in a letter.

On June 1st of 2016, new legislation went into effect in New Hampshire that was passed in 2013 as Senate Bill 89. With this new law on the books, the sale and freshwater use of lead sinkers and lead jigs weighing an ounce or less is not permitted. These changes represent a culmination of decades of work by many different parties, and they are an important next step in protecting the common loon as well as over two dozen other species that are known to have died from lead poisoning in the past following ingestion of lead fishing sinkers and jigs.

“After years of education through programs, press releases and other means and no drop in loon mortalities from ingested tackle, we realized that a comprehensive solution including legislation to restrict the sale and use of these toxic sinkers and jigs was needed.”

LPC has been an important part of the efforts to monitor loon mortality data.Through their work, they have shown that the leading known cause of adult loon mortality is from ingested lead tackle. Over the last 25 years, 48% of the loons collected in New Hampshire were determined to have died from lead poisoning from ingesting lead sinkers or jigs. For more information on this study and others by LPC, click here.

For the full letter from director Harry Vogel, click here.

It is vital that we continue to work with anglers across the Northeast to make changes that protect sensitive wildlife. For those anglers in New Hampshire, we encourage you to make sure your tackle is in accordance with the new regulations. If you need to purchase new lead-free tackle, there are many sources listed on our Online Retailers page. For those in other states, continue to be aware of changes to local legislation and check your state page for more information.

Fishing Lead-Free Hall of Fame!

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Calling all Lead-Free Anglers!

The Fish Lead Free project is looking for anglers to submit photos of the biggest fish they have caught using lead-free fishing tackle. We want to find the biggest fish that have been caught for our lead-free fishing hall of fame. The angler with the largest fish will have their picture put on our website cover page for all to see, so get fishing!

Below we have our first entry, an 18 inch Large Mouth Bass caught by Conor Nadeau from Cumberland, Maine using tin split shot.

18'' Large-Mouth Bass

18” Large-Mouth Bass caught by Conor Nadeau

If you think your fish deserves to be in the Lead-Free Fishing Hall of Fame send us an email with your picture (high resolution JPEGs only), your name, lake location, what tackle you used, and the size of the fish in the picture (no cheating!) to fishleadfree@maineaudubon.org.

Happy Fishing!

River Clean-up Focuses on getting out Line and Lead

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Journalist Matt Markey from The Blade wrote a great article about the local effort in Ohio aimed at cleaning up fishing line and associated lead fishing tackle in the Maumee River. Below is an excerpt from the article with a link to the rest of it at the bottom of the page.

“With thousands of anglers flooding the Maumee River for two months each spring, lured into the water for the fishing bonanza created by the spawning runs of Lake Erie walleyes and white bass, there are going to be some footprints left behind.

Sadly, there will also be trash, including discarded food containers, cans and bottles, packaging from tackle, and even damaged waders. Those things are relatively easy to see and to clean up.

Fishing line and lead fishing weights lodged in the waterway, however, are a different kind of problem.

Strong, durable, and in many cases darned near invisible, fishing line will not break down for many years, so when the numerous snags in the river result in lines breaking off, the hazard it creates will last a long time, if not removed. The lead weights used by anglers in the swift river current present an equally troubling outcome.

The most frequent scenario involves an angler’s hook hanging up between rocks or on a submerged tree limb. In the crowd that the spawning runs attract, the fisherman can’t move up and down the waterway to attempt to dislodge the lure. So in haste, he often breaks off the line, ties on a new hook and weight, and continues fishing.

A few cases of lines breaking in the river will not present a significant hazard. But when multiplied by the hundreds each week, throughout the run, a major environmental issue is created.

All of those line fragments, hooks and lead weights swirling around in the Maumee become a veritable minefield for the fish, waterfowl and other wildlife that use the river.

One snag catches another, and then 10 more, creating web-like snares that threaten anything in the water.”

For the rest of the article please follow this link!