Discarded fishing line a menace to fish and fowl

My 9-year-old recently came home from boating camp concerned about a pelican.

The sizeable brown birds are a common sighting for youngsters and everyone else in Southwest Florida who boats or goes to the beach.

Usually they're a source of entertainment - nose-diving from the sky into the water to feed or stoically sitting atop pilings eyeballing tourists.

Sometimes they follow anglers, hoping for a castoff.

Sometimes they get into trouble.

Such was the case with the pelican my girl observed and fretted about day after day as she saw it on the water.

The bird was entangled in fishing line.

Monofilament line cut into the flesh on its leg, and some unseen hook or more line had attached to its wing. Every time it moved its wings in flight, its right leg would rise and fall with its right wing.

Camp counselors had reported it. But no one could catch it. The bird could still feed and fly - but for how long?

Fishing line can kill birds, marine mammals and other wildlife.

If you're an outdoors person or a boater who lives here year-round, you already know this. But feel free to remind and teach others about the tragedies associated with discarded line.

PHOTO COURTESY MOTE MARINE A dead dolphin calf was found entangled in monofilament fishing line. Last time I was at the Sanibel Causeway on a picturesque afternoon, a colleague of mine noted, "Ah, this is why we don't live in Ohio or Indiana." True - blue sky, calm water, shorebirds and sand.

But I couldn't remove my eyes from not one, but two birds, who were feeding and frolicking with line, weights and hooks attached to their elegant bodies.

It seems it's been this way for a long time - paradise showcasing the ugliness we sometimes leave behind.

I can't forget one of the first times my husband and I drove to the Keys, watching the chain of islands unfold from the car window. Then I saw something hanging from a telephone line. It was a male brown pelican in lovely breeding plumage, dead and upside down. It was attached to the phone line by monofilament line. I winced, thinking of its misery as it died of starvation stuck there.

Even when reporting this story - thinking about the tips I could dispense to others to pass on to newcomers and tourists and even unknowing local anglers - I had to wince again.

I asked for photos from staffers at Mote Marine Lab, the NOAA Fisheries/Protected Resource Division, and the Florida Wildlife Conservation Commission. When I clicked on a file and opened up a photo of a dolphin calf dead and entangled in a wad of fishing line, I teared up.

I guess what's saddest of all about such an image is that humans can prevent this.

If an angler's line gets tangled in mangroves or around a piling, instead of breaking the line and moving on, the angler could go retrieve it. And save a bird, dolphin, sea turtle, manatee, fish or other creature's life.

A Mote dolphin program staffer recently found one of the oldest male dolphins known to exist in Sarasota Bay entangled in monofilament fishing line.

Staff was able to partially remove the line while the animal was free-swimming. This episode - and the births of so many new calves that are just now learning how to navigate their environment - offers a chance for Mote to remind boaters and anglers about the best ways to interact with our dolphin neighbors.

Never feed wild dolphins - it's against federal law and is harmful to them.

Avoid fishing in an area where dolphins are actively feeding. They may mistake your bait or catch for food.

Don't leave your line behind. Cast with care. If your line gets snagged or breaks, make every effort to safely retrieve it. Collect discarded line from others. Obtain and adopt a recycling bin for your favorite fishing/boating area.

As for that pelican that caused my daughter concern for her two weeks of boating camp, well, there was no resolution or happy ending.

The last she saw of the bird, it was flying toward a marina, its wing and leg still firmly attached, thanks to someone who at some point carelessly discarded fishing line on our beautiful waterways. ¦

- Betsy Clayton is a freelancer based on

Pine Island and also is Lee County Parks &

Recreation's waterways coordinator. Contact

her at boatingbybetsy@yahoo.com