219 miles of fishing line cleaned at Mono Clean-a-thon!
Thank you to our 38 volunteers who participated in our Mono Clean-a-thon on Saturday morning. We cleaned an estimated 219 miles of fishing line which vastly exceeded our goal of cleaning 50 miles! This line was collected from local fishing docks and will be sent to Berkeley Fishing to be recycled into fishing equipment or fish habitats.
It’s important to remove monofilament from the environment since it’s a serious threat to birds and other wildlife and it takes over 600 years to decompose. Discarded fishing line collects in local bird sanctuaries and colonial nesting areas where birds and other wildlife can easily become entangled or hooked.
A special thanks to Planet Love Life who participated in this successful event and donated bracelets to our raffle which are made from 100% salvaged fishing nets, ropes, & lines collected during ocean & beach cleanup projects around the world!
Summer volunteering for high school students at Tampa Bay Watch
Tampa Bay Watch has an opportunity for high school students (minimum age of 15 years old) to volunteer with us over the summer. The program will take place on each Monday from June 4 – July 30 from 9 am – noon (with the exception of July 2) at our facility in Tierra Verde. Usually there is a group of ten students and one of our staff leads an environmental project such as cleaning fishing line, cleaning a shoreline, or planting marsh grasses.
Advanced registration is required by emailing the dates that you’d like to participate and your cell number to Rachel Arndt at rarndt@tampabaywatch.org