Fishing line left by anglers in the region continues to entangle animals, particularly birds. Lower Burrell’s public works department and volunteers from the nonprofit Wildbird Recovery recently rescued a duck with a fishing lure in its neck at Burrell Lake Park.
Fishing line recycling tubes have been installed at many places in the region, including at Burrell Lake Park as well as in two Allegheny County Parks.
The dangers of discarded fishing line became real to county officials several years ago, when a great blue heron was found dead at a county park, entangled in line and hanging upside down.
The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania also installed a number of the recycling tubes, made of PVC pipe, along waterways.
“Fishing litter, in general, is such a horrible problem,” said Amber Treese, of Lower Burrell, a wildlife rehabilitator who volunteers for Wildbird Recovery in Middlesex Township.
This is at least the fifth duck Treese has rescued from Burrell Lake Park, all with fishing line-related injuries, she said. As a volunteer wildlife rehabilitator, Treese and other volunteers have rescued geese and songbirds caught up in fishing gear.
The most recent entangled duck was caught from Burrell Lake Park on Oct. 15, requiring rescue from Wildbird Recovery volunteers and crew members from the city’s public works department.
Laura Beck, a Lower Burrell who volunteers for Wildbird Recovery, helped rescue the duck. “It is ridiculous. It’s hard to enjoy a beautiful park like that when you see the fishing line and worry about the animals,” she said, adding that dogs and other animals are at risk, too.
City Mayor John Andrejcik, an avid angler and a fly fishing instructor, is irked by the fishing line problem and the public feeding of the ducks and animals at the park.
“Quit feeding those animals so much — there are signs posted everywhere,” Andrejcik said. Feeding attracts ducks and causes the birds to congregate in areas frequented by the public.
“That is one of the reasons why the problem persists,” he said, adding that fishing line litter was due to the “negligence of anglers.”
Last year, Eagle Scout Ian James Marino of Lower Burrell installed about six fishing line recycling tubes in Burrell Lake Park, the mayor said. He and some council members donated and helped with the project.
About seven years ago Allegheny County Parks, along with the Friends of North Park, installed 17 recycling tubes around the lakes in the park. Cub Scout Pack 554 installed 10 tubes at Deer Lakes Park, said Andy Baechle, director of Allegheny County Parks.
“In 2014, a great blue heron was found hanging upside down with fishing line at North Park Lake. It broke all of our hearts,” he said. After the bird’s death, Allegheny County Parks along with a volunteer, the late Robert “Snakeguy” Habegger, set out to install the fishing line recycling tubes.
To date, more than 10 miles — about six pounds — of fishing line have been recycled from Allegheny County Parks, Baechle said.
The line is recycled by Berkley in Spirit Lake, Iowa. The fishing supply company melts down the line to form raw plastic pellets used to produce tackle boxes, fish habitats, toys and spools for fishing line, he said.
The Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania installed about 15 fishing line recycling tubes around the region, said Rachel Handel, Audubon spokeswoman.
“It’s an important project because the monofilament used for fishing line does not break down – it stays where it lays, be that on a riverbank or even attached to a hook in a fish’s mouth.”
Besides entangling birds that encounter the line litter, the waste endangers large raptors like eagles who eat fish. They can bring the hooked fish back to the nest to young birds, as one of the Pittsburgh Hays bald eagles did in 2019.
“This exposes the adult and baby birds to the possibility of monofilament ingestion,” Handel said, “or getting the monofilament tied around their legs, neck or wings.”
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