Above, one of three mounds at the Seneca Meadows Landfill in Waterloo, NY, as seen from the west side of Seneca Lake approximately eight miles away (through a telephoto lens). Credit: Kevin Colton, HWS.

EPA Region Map

EPA Region Map
EPA Region Map

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Fishing line takes 600 years to decompose


I do a lot of fishing throughout the year so today I decided to do some research on the environmental impact of one of the essentials to fishing; fishing line. Most anglers change their fishing line once a year (some even once a season). Each time you respool, you rig your rod with a few hundred yards of synthetic line. During the year this line gets worn out, breaks or gets snagged in the environment. Adding to this, a few inches of line gets cut each time you retie and when you respool the whole spool is removed and discarded. After some research I found that the typical decomposition rate for monofilament line in the environment is 600 years!!!!

No comments:

Post a Comment