Assessing angler knowledge and experience with fishing line debris and wildlife interactions at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier
By Robin Perrtree, BS and Kim Bassos-Hull, MS

      Our pilot project on the South Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier in 2006 demonstrated that the problem of dolphins stealing bait and catch from angler’s lines was worse than we expected.  In addition, a lack of monofilament recycling bins resulted in a littering problem, allowing potentially-entangling fishing line and tackle to get into the waters surrounding the pier.  In 2007 we teamed up with the Ocean Conservancy and NOAA’s Fisheries Service (NMFS) to clean-up the fishing line that accumulated on the pier and in the water under the pier. We also conducted surveys to assess the knowledge, awareness, and attitudes of fishermen towards discarded fishing line, and fishing around dolphins.  The second phase of this project was to attempt to reduce the amount of monofilament fishing line that is going back into the environment through educational outreach and installation of recycling bins.  The expectation is that all of these efforts will reduce the amount of fishing line in the environment, thereby reducing the chance of entanglement for marine life, including dolphins.
      The main role of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program in this project is to assess the effectiveness of the project.  For the first phase, we completed pre-clean-up surveys of 400 fishermen in June and July to assess current knowledge about: 1) the harm monofilament can do in the environment, 2) current fishing practices, and 3) human-dolphin interactions.  Sixty-five percent of the anglers surveyed had seen animals entangled in fishing line (including birds, dolphins, manatees, sea turtles, and fish), and 53% reported having a dolphin steal either their bait or catch, indicating that wildlife interactions are a very serious problem at this pier.  Unfortunately, most of the fishermen (70%) toss leftover bait back into the water (Figure 1), which encourages wildlife to remain in the vicinity of the pier, where they could become entangled in the gear of other fishermen.  Our survey showed that, not surprisingly, fishermen who have had dolphins steal their bait or catch tend to have a slightly more negative view towards dolphins than those who have not had interactions.

      The underwater clean-up which occurred over a several week period in August and September, recovered 218 castnets and 4,600 pounds of entangling debris (including nets, ropes, and monofilament line, Figure 2).  During the pier and surrounding area ground clean-up, which was part of the “International Coastal Cleanup” on 15 September, 170 volunteers recovered 2,023 pounds of litter including 1,737 pieces of fishing line.  The next phase of this project began in October when the Ocean Conservancy installed 40 recycling bins and started a pier-walker program to educate fishermen about discarded fishing line and the new recycling program at the pier to prevent future accumulation of line in the environment.  NMFS is also preparing to install ten signs with “dolphin friendly fishing tips,” intended to reduce the incidence of both  1) dolphins stealing from the fishermen, and 2) fishermen feeding the dolphins both intentionally and accidentally (through released fish and leftover bait that is tossed into the water). 

Figure 2. Some of the underwater debris from the pier cleanup effort (218 castnets and 4,600 pounds of entangling debris were collected in total.

The pier walkers who are talking to the fishermen and emptying the monofilament recycling bins have already reported a decrease in the amount of fishing line they are finding on the ground, and large quantities of line in the bins.  As the educational component of this project continues into 2008 we plan to evaluate how angler knowledge about monofilament and wildlife issues change.  We also hope to document quantitatively the decreased amount of monofilament going into the environment.  Additionally, we hope that fishermen consider adopting the suggested “dolphin friendly fishing tips” (see next article), thereby reducing the number of dolphins stealing from fishermen and preventing dolphin deaths from recreational fishing gear. This has the potential to reduce the frustration felt by fishermen when their catch is lost to dolphins.  This project was funded by a NOAA Marine Debris Prevention and Removal grant and a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant with matching funds provided by the Chicago Zoological Society and Mote Marine Laboratory.