Florida Entanglement Working Group update
By Kim Bassos-Hull, MS, and Jessica Powell, MS

      DRCI has been an active member of the Florida Entanglement Working Group (FEWG) since 2005. This group focuses on marine wildlife entanglement issues and ways to reduce marine debris in the environment around the state of Florida. Within FEWG, a smaller working group was formed to examine dolphin, manatee, and sea turtle stranding data from 1997-2007 for entanglements in fishing gear, leading to a manuscript that highlights areas of Florida that appear to be entanglement hotspots. This information will be useful for targeting outreach, fishing line recycling, and cleanup efforts. During 1997-2000, up to 4% of total yearly strandings involved fishing gear entanglements. This number jumped to as much as 9% during some subsequent years through 2007. Preliminary indications are that the central east and west coasts are the hotspots of entanglement for dolphins, and the next step is to combine with the manatee and sea turtle data sets to examine entanglements at the multi-species level.

      One of the primary programs supported by the FEWG is the Monofilament Recovery & Recycling Program (MRRP) which is a statewide effort to educate the public on the problems caused by monofilament line left in the environment, to encourage recycling through a network of line recycling bins and drop-off locations, and to conduct volunteer monofilament line cleanup events (see www.fishinglinerecycling.org). DRCI has been actively promoting the MRRP program through the development and distribution of personal-sized fishing line recycling bins to anglers and kayakers filled with MRRP brochures, Dolphin Friendly Fishing Cards, and a NOAA “Help Prevent Entanglement” brochure. Sean Russell, a Mote High School Intern and Florida 4-H Club president, has expanded the “mini-bin” program around the state through 4-H clubs and other educational institutions through his “Stow it don’t throw it” project (www.stowitdontthrowit.blogspot.com).