Tackle Bin Project collects more than 58km of fishing line in first two years

An environmental project pegged to collect just a few kilometres of discarded fishing line has wildly surpassed expectations, with many, many kilometres of line recorded in just two years.

AN environmental project pegged to collect just a few kilometres of discarded fishing line on the Gold Coast has wildly surpassed expectations.

The Tackle Bin Project was launched two years ago to combat fishing waste. So far, 58km of fishing line and thousands of hooks, sinkers and bait bags have been collected.

The project put up small tackle bins at fishing hot spots, encouraging anglers to throw their rubbish away rather than leave it in the waterways where birds can be injured.

COAST WOMAN COLLECTS 20KM OF FISHING LINE IN 18 MONTHS

Kellie Lindsay oversees the project of placing tackle bins around popular fishing locations on the Gold Coast to collect used and unwanted fishing tackle and line. Pic Tim Marsden

Kellie Lindsay, the co-ordinator of the Gold Coast Marine Debris Network, which oversees the project, said the figures were higher than expected.

“When we started looking at figures down south, we thought it would only be a few kilometres per year,” she said.

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“But the Gold Coast has a huge fishing population and is very populous, and the bins encourage people to pick up line as well.”

ENVIRONMENTAL DIVERS PICK UP 1.75 TONNES OF RUBBISH IN COAST WATERWAYS

Discarded fishing line is a massive problem for water birds and sea creatures. Pic Tim Marsden

In 2017, just over 28 kilometres of fishing line was collected alongside 742 bait bags, 751 sinkers, 407 lures and 1703 hooks.

Last year, the project recorded just under 24km of fishing line, 1789 bait bags, 1001 sinkers, 2326 hooks and 671 lures and floats.

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Since the start of this year, nearly 7km of fishing line has been retrieved, with already 880 hooks and 653 bait bags recorded as well.

According to the 2018 report, the Oxenford Weir and two Currumbin bins collected the most amount of fishing lines between them.

The three Oxenford bins also recorded the most amount of bait bags, as well as hooks.

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Ms Lindsay said the project has been very successful since its inception. Pic Tim Marsden

Ms Lindsay said there were 13 bins up across the city, with plans to install more at other popular fishing hot spots in the coming months.

She said the network wanted to focus on ensuring the discarded items were recycled this year as well, adding a cafe on the Sunshine Coast was repurposing their fishing line for hanging baskets.

“Unfortunately we can’t have bins in every area … but we definitely know fishermen use them,” she said.

Ms Lindsay said volunteers were crucial to ensuring the bins were emptied on a weekly basis, adding they were looking for more volunteers as their project expanded.