Wakeup call for all anglers: clean up discarded tackle
By Dave Elsdon
Beach fishing at night is something special, especially on a full or new moon high tide, with moon light and/or torch. At night we’re without the noise expected from humans on the water during daylight hours. There’s no worry about getting too much sun. Night fishing on Coochiemudlo is peaceful, relaxing, and you get a sense of how wonderful Moreton Bay is. If you manage to catch something, it’s even better.
Sharing the beach with curlews at night
Unless you’re a night angler, or regularly walk the beach at night, you might not know that bush stone-curlews spend time foraging on the beach after dark. They’re usually in pairs, or sometimes on their own. They hang about, not too close, never pesky, and they’re attentive and patient. They could find pickings from discarded bait or fish offal. Sometimes they get lucky. Sometimes they can be unlucky.
Discarded fishing line or braid — a hazard for birds
No matter what type of line you use, braid or mono, tangles occur, lures and hooks are snagged, and lines are broken or have to be cut. Anglers discard or lose tackle including fishing line and braid, hooks, and lures with line still attached. If we don’t clean up after ourselves, we fishers can be a hazard for birds.
In April this year, my neighbours rescued a curlew that had tightly wound braid around both its legs. The bird couldn’t walk, it was clearly in pain, and it was very distressed. Albie Spiteri managed to, very carefully, catch the bird with a net and calmly held it on the ground.* Kate Barker skillfully snipped the very tight braid with small scissors. The tight braid was in deep, had almost cut the circulation from the bird’s feet, and in time it could have lost both feet from the wound. Kate’s calm tone assured the bird that it will be okay.
And it was okay. After the braid was cut and peeled away from both wounds to its feet, the bird was released. It flew away, traumatized, but hopefully it still is okay because it was rescued in time. With circulation restored, we hope the recovery continues.
But what if the bird was not able to be helped, what if it was never found, or could not be caught?*
The world isn’t perfect. Bad things can happen but with knowledge and care we can help alleviate some awful things happening to our wildlife. We can even help promote and maintain a safe environment for us all.
Common sense tips for anglers
As anglers, we need to clean up after ourselves no matter where you’re fishing, and we should teach all kids to do the same. If we find someone else’s discarded tackle, we should clean it up. We can take a multi-purpose bucket when we go fishing to use for carrying fish and/or tidying away discarded line and hooks, and plastic bait bags. If we’re fishing at night on the beach, try to make it back there in daylight when the tide is out to check and clean up what was missed. Who knows, you may even find that snagged lure that you lost the night before.
*Catching any bird with a net is something that should be undertaken with extreme care. Damage to a bird’s frail legs and bones can easily occur.
Dave has been a keen angler all his life. He first came to Coochiemudlo Island in the 1960s and he’s been a resident on the island since 2019.
