At our beach cleanups, we often find snarls of fishing line. This fishing line, if washed into the ocean, can entangle marine life. Fishing line discarded into the water can also have impacts — several years ago, we encountered a northern gannet (a type of large seabird) that had fishing line strung from its wing to its foot. You can help protect marine life by disposing of fishing line responsibly.
Recycle Your Fishing Line
To help combat the problem of fishing line in the environment, we’ve been working on installing fishing line recycling bins throughout the Seacoast. The bins were provided by Boat U.S. and the NOAA Marine Debris Program. You can bring your fishing line or fishing line spools to one of the bins listed below. We’ll collect it and send it to Berkley Fishing for recycling.
According to Berkley’s web site,
Since 1990, the Berkley Conservation Institute, with the help of anglers everywhere, has recycled more than 9 million miles worth of fishing line. That’s enough line to fill two reels for every angler in America.
Fishing Line Recycling Bin Locations
New Hampshire
- Brewster’s Bait & Tackle, 121 Mechanic Street, Portsmouth, NH (bin indoors)
- The Refill Station, 124C Bartlett Street, Portsmouth, NH (bin indoors)
- Portsmouth Marina, 185 Wentworth Road, Portsmouth, NH (bin outdoors)
- Seaport Fish, 13 Sagamore Road, Rye, NH (bin outdoors)
- Rye Harbor Marina, Ocean Blvd, Rye, NH (bin outdoors)
- Hampton Harbor, 1 Ocean Blvd, Hampton, NH (bin outdoors)
- Hampton Tackle Shop, Hampton, NH (bin indoors + outdoors)
- Eastman’s Fishing Fleet, Seabrook, NH (bin indoors)
- Dover Marine, Dover, NH (bin indoors)
Maine
- Eliot Boat Basin (Dead Duck) boat launch ramp, 90 Hammond Lane, Eliot (bin outdoors)
Massachusetts
- Bridge Bait & Tackle, 134 Bridge Road, Salisbury, MA (bin indoors)
- Captain’s Fishing Parties, Plum Island, MA (bin outdoors)
- Sesuit Harbor – West, Dennis, MA (bin outdoors)
We’ll be adding more bins and updating this list throughout the summer!
Volunteer for this Program
We’re looking for volunteers to monitor the bins regularly, fill out a data form when they collect the line, and return the line to us. If you’d like to help, fill out a volunteer application here.
Thank you to BOS volunteer Stephanie Burrows for being a huge help in getting this program going!
