Our partner, Sarasota Bay Watch, held its 4th Annual Monofilament Clean Up. Eighty three enthusiastic community volunteers worked to clean the shorelines and bird nesting areas to protect our sea birds and marine mammals. Additionally, the monofilament data Sarasota Bay Watch collected during the clean up will be used for statewide entanglement research. Sarasota Bay Watch donated all of the fishing lures collected to the Ringling School of Art, where they will be used as decorations on a holiday tree to be auctioned off for charity.
A sample of the retrieved items included:
500 pounds of debris
150 pounds of lumber
bags of monofilament and lures (specific amount to be determined)
6 bait buckets/sand pails
14 styrofoam buoys with attached line
4 portions of coolers
3 life jackets
hundreds of plastic bags and strips of tarps
6 baseball caps
1 jack-o-lantern trick or treat bucket
3 fishing nets
1 boat anchor with chain
1 bathtub tug boat
1 dead egret
1 outboard trim tab
2 mangled metal traps
1 green lawn chair – with barnacles
5 yards of ribbon
3 beach balls
30 unmatched flip flops/sandals
1 red milk crate
pounds of discarded plastic bottles and cans
