Texas Monofilament Recovery and Recycling

Girl Scout Troop 86 in the Rio Grande Valley are planning to set-up 17 collection bins for used fishing line for their Silver Award Project. I proud of these young ladies and the businesses that support them to as they work towards their goal.

Below are pictures of the first two bins!

Stay tuned for some marine debri and plastic pollution from our very own program leader and Brazoria County Coastal & Marine Resources-Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Extension Agent, John O'Connell.

Texas Sea Grant presents Seaside Chats, a bi-weekly virtual conversation with experts and guests that explores the wondrous and impactful and marine environment. There is more to the than meets the eye, and you can learn more about it at our .

Restoring coastal habitats, planning for the next hurricane, and the cleaning up marine debris are just a few topics that we will tackle in our Seaside Chats. Join us as we take a deep dive into the successes, challenges, opportunities, and curiosities of the third coast.

Register for our first Seaside Chat at tx.ag/SeasideChats

Since 2004, when was started I have been contacted by people from across nation and the State of Texas. Some sent me photos of used fishing line or other gear entangling wildlife.

A few days ago, I was going through some photographs and came across the image below. There is a story behind the image. I was contacted by the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Brownsville, Texas. During a routine patrol of the waters off the coastline of Texas they came across a gillnet, that was being fished illegally in United States' waters. The crew hauled in the net and returned to the dock.

Because gillnets are made from monofilament line I was contacted to see if I could have it recycled. According to the caller they estimated the net was miles in length, ten miles as I recall! Unfortunately efforts failed to recycle the gillnet and it was decided to send it to the landfill.

The good news is the net was removed from the water. Close inspection of the net revels the tails of sharks and other fish. More good news, there are now groups that work with commercial fishing industry around the world to recycle old gear.