Beach Boy Scouts recycle monofilament fishing line
Every day, improperly discarded monofilament fishing line causes devastating problems for marine life and the environment. Marine mammals, sea turtles, fish and birds become injured from entanglements, or might ingest the line, often dying as a result.
To assist in monofilament line recycling for the Town of Fort Myers Beach, local Boy Scout Troop 999 was recently trained to recover the unwanted monofilament line dropped of in the town’s four recycling bins. Every month, a different team of scouts will recover monofilament line from the Big Carlos Pass bridge, the Mound House pier and the fishing pier under the Matanzas Pass bridge and prepare it for recycling.
“This is an opportunity for our boys to make a positive impact on our beach environment,” said Scoutmaster Raymond Desrosiers during the training session. Jeff Werner, who chairs the Marine Resources Task Force for the town, led the training. “It is encouraging to have these scouts interested in protecting our coastal environment,” noted Werner. “I hope that this effort by our Boy Scouts can become a model for other communities.”
The Marine Resources Task Force promotes stewardship of our marine resources, and works to stop further damage and to rehabilitate Estero Bay and its surrounding waters, including all wildlife, plant life, and air and water quality. It serves as an advisory committee to the town council.