Fishers who want to dispose of their fishing line can now recycle it in Powell River.
In an initiative spearheaded by resident Rob Chalmers, there are two stations each at the north and south harbours where people wanting to discard fishing line can keep it out of the ocean or the landfill and make sure it is reused.
Chalmers said he has been a resident of Powell River for three years and bought a boat when he moved to the community. He participates in fishing in the Salish Sea.
“I try to get out as much as I can and I love being out there,” said Chalmers.
He said his interest in fishing line recycling started after he hooked a fish and the line broke. He said he received the fishing rods with the boat when he purchased it.
“I started to wonder how long this line had been on the reels,” said Chalmers. “I just decided I’d respool all of my reels. I ended up with this big bag of used line. I phoned recycling here to ask if they recycled and they didn’t. I didn’t want it to end up in the dump so I did a little looking around.”
Chalmers said he found out that the Innisfail Fish and Game Club in Alberta started its own fishing line recycling and he found another place in Florida that did the same. He said he started to do a bit of reading about fishing line and found out where to recycle it.
Chalmers said he approached a couple of businesses to see if they would be interested in supporting the initiative and the project just went from there.
After he’d made some general enquiries, he talked to Valley Building Supplies about providing PVC piping for the recycling receptacles and then talked with Impact Signs and they agreed to make up the signs.
Chalmers then spoke with City of Powell River to make sure the recycling project happening on city property would be okay. He said Rod Fraser and Courteney Bird from the city’s operations department were very supportive.
“We built up the receptacles and had the signs made up and they were mounted up at the harbour,” said Chalmers.
In all, Chalmers built five receptacles. Four have been installed at the north and south boat harbours and he has a spare. Some extra signs were printed so fishing line recycling receptacles could be put up at the boat launches on Powell Lake.
Chalmers said he has offered to check out the receptacles and send the fishing line to Berkley, which is a fishing tackle manufacturer that recycles fishing line.
“Berkley does it, great, we’ll send the fishing line to them,” said Chalmers.
He said fishing is an important part of the community’s livelihood and lifestyle. The more that can be done to support that the better off we all are, according to Chalmers.
