Assessing angler knowledge and experience with fishing line debris and wildlife interactions at the Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier
By Robin Perrtree, BS and Kim Bassos-Hull, MS
During our pilot project on the South Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier in 2006, we realized that the problem of dolphins stealing bait and catch from anglers’ lines was worse than anticipated. In addition, lack of monofilament recycling bins resulted in a fishing line littering problem. In 2007 we teamed up with the Ocean Conservancy (TOC) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to clean up fishing line that accumulated on the pier and in the water under the pier. Together we assessed the knowledge, awareness, and attitudes of fishermen toward discarded fishing line and fishing around dolphins. The next step was to attempt to reduce the amount of fishing line that is getting into the environment through educational outreach and installation of recycling bins. In 2008, we reassessed angler knowledge, awareness, and attitudes. The expectation was that all of these efforts would reduce the amount of fishing line in the environment, therefore reducing the chance of entanglement for marine life, including dolphins.
Robin Perrtree takes pictures for identification of a dolphin patrolling near an angler at the South Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier.
The main role of the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program (SDRP) in this project was to assess the effectiveness of our outreach efforts. The SDRP and the TOC, together with a team of trained volunteers, completed pre-clean-up surveys of 400 fishermen in summer 2007, another 414 surveys in spring 2008 in the middle of our efforts, and a third round of 398 surveys in late summer 2008 at the end of the project. The goal of all of these surveys was to assess knowledge about the harm that fishing line can do in the environment, current fishing practices, and human-dolphin interactions, then evaluate how the anglers’ responses changed over time.
In the Pre-project surveys, 65% of anglers had seen animals entangled in fishing line (birds, dolphins, manatees, sea turtles, and fish), and 53% reported having a dolphin steal either their bait or catch in the past, indicating that wildlife interactions were a very serious problem at this pier. After almost a year of outreach and clean-up efforts, we found a slight decrease in anglers who had a dolphin steal from them on the same day they were surveyed. Our survey showed that fishermen who have had dolphins steal their bait or catch are more likely to have a more negative view towards dolphins than those who have not had interactions with dolphins (Figure 1).
Figure 1 - Angler attitude towards dolphins versus dolphin interactions.
Unfortunately, most of the fishermen (70% during pre-surveys) toss leftover bait back into the water, which encourages wildlife to approach the pier where they could become entangled in the gear of other fishermen. One of the main outreach messages we tried to provide the anglers was the recommendation that leftover bait could be given to other fishermen or taken home for later use, rather than tossed back into the water. In the post-surveys, we observed a small, but statistically significant, drop in anglers reporting that they discard leftover bait into the water and a statistically significant increase in the number of anglers who reported taking their leftovers home to freeze and reuse later.
Thousands of pounds of debris were removed from the environment surrounding the pier in Fall 2007. After the clean-up, over 40 monofilament recycling bins and ten signs with “dolphin-friendly fishing tips” were installed on the pier. A pier walker program of volunteers who went out and talked to the fishermen a couple times a week about responsible line disposal, entanglement issues, and how to avoid dolphins was implemented. The pier walkers also helped to maintain and empty the monofilament recycling bins.
Figure 2 - Angler change in behavior while fishing around dolphins in response to outreach efforts.
Our post-surveys showed that approximately 40% of anglers have been exposed to our outreach message either through the signs or pier walkers and just over half of those exposed have changed their fishing behavior based on our suggestions (Figure 2). As the educational component of this project continues, through the continued dedication of our pier walkers and the permanently installed signage, we hope that additional fishermen consider adopting the suggested “dolphin-friendly fishing tips,” thus reducing the number of dolphins stealing from fishermen and preventing dolphin deaths from recreational fishing gear. This has the potential to reduce the frustration felt by fishermen when their catch is lost to dolphins. This project was funded by a NOAA Marine Debris Prevention and Removal grant and a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant with matching funds provided by the Chicago Zoological Society and Mote Marine Laboratory.
Mother (SRCA), with her entangled calf at the South Sunshine Skyway Fishing Pier in August 2008. This calf was seen starting in early August entangled in fishing line that was cutting into the dorsal fin. It was seen in late August with less line, but trailing the bobber seen in this image. Due to the location of this mother and calf pair, in deep water with swift currents near a fishing pier and reefs, a rescue was not possible. The SDRP and local stranding networks continued to monitor this animal through reports from local citizens as well as direct observations by experts.