I met a guy kayaking the other day while fishing the Sudbury River near Sherman's Bridge in the Wayland/Sudbury area. I remember thinking as he passed the first time,
"Heh, least I'm not the only one freezing out here! Not a bad kayak either."
He returned about 3 hours or so later and had bottles, cans, tires..all sorts of trash piled on the front and back of his kayak. He slowly made his way along the shore toward me and we got to talking as he gathered up even more bottles scattered among the weeds just off shore.
He told me that he had taken up collecting all the trash he passes instead of just paddling past it like so many people do. He also mentioned he blogged about it as well to help spread the message of good stewardship. We exchanged some contact info and I have gladly put a link to his blog on my page. After doing so I wanted to drop a line here as his blogs are both insightful and entertaining and I thought it might help inspire some of us to all do our parts when we are out there on the banks!
Check out his Blog here:
http://www.trashpaddler.com/
"Heh, least I'm not the only one freezing out here! Not a bad kayak either."
He returned about 3 hours or so later and had bottles, cans, tires..all sorts of trash piled on the front and back of his kayak. He slowly made his way along the shore toward me and we got to talking as he gathered up even more bottles scattered among the weeds just off shore.
He told me that he had taken up collecting all the trash he passes instead of just paddling past it like so many people do. He also mentioned he blogged about it as well to help spread the message of good stewardship. We exchanged some contact info and I have gladly put a link to his blog on my page. After doing so I wanted to drop a line here as his blogs are both insightful and entertaining and I thought it might help inspire some of us to all do our parts when we are out there on the banks!
Check out his Blog here:
http://www.trashpaddler.com/
Kudo's to him ... and you for posting. I am continually appalled at the trash people leave behind. It masy not be our trash ... but, it's in 'our' outdoors ... so, if everyone grabbed a couple of pieces ...
Amazing that's it's not too heavy to carry in, but it's too dang heavy to carry out ! I mostly wade fish and walking in to various spots [and some are > 1/2 mile] I see plastic water bottles, soda cups, beer bottles, and pretty much you name it. Walking out I use my net to scoop up what's along the path ... and, it's rare that I don't have a full net by the time I get back to the vehicle. (and I carry a sizeable net! Well, you never know ! LOL!) Makes me mad every time !
I just got my first Yak, and I expect I'll be doing the same along waters I plan to fish starting in the spring. Good grief ...
Q.
Amazing that's it's not too heavy to carry in, but it's too dang heavy to carry out ! I mostly wade fish and walking in to various spots [and some are > 1/2 mile] I see plastic water bottles, soda cups, beer bottles, and pretty much you name it. Walking out I use my net to scoop up what's along the path ... and, it's rare that I don't have a full net by the time I get back to the vehicle. (and I carry a sizeable net! Well, you never know ! LOL!) Makes me mad every time !
I just got my first Yak, and I expect I'll be doing the same along waters I plan to fish starting in the spring. Good grief ...
Q.
I know it is frustrating to say the least. I would expect better practices from a group of people who devote so much time and energy to enjoying the outdoors. The amount of fishing line, tackle and lure packages etc is crazy. Add to that bait containers, food containers...then all the junk everyone else drops.
I fish a lot of tidal sections of rivers, the Merrimack specifically and to date I've seen literally tons of garbage floating downriver..including dressers and drawers, refrigerators...Simon and I fished out a plastic bag containing a home arrest ankle bracelet and the receiver for it...not to mention countless bottles/jugs/bags/condoms/tampons...It is really disgusting
One of my favorite swims on the Blackstone in Uxbridge is always full of trash from the people who were there through the week between my sessions. I almost never fail to fill a 20 gallon bag of garbage each visit and I've fished this spot at least 50 times..chances are that is a conservative number. That is a lot of trash to be pulling out over time. His blog states that this Year to Date he has pulled out over 5000, that is five thousand items...another persons blog claimed near 20,000 on some of the rivers they patrol. that is almost thirty thousand pieces of trash from 2 people in a few sections of rivers and lakes..the numbers become simply staggering over time.
I try to promote cleaning up the banks and that is why I really appreciated what this guy was doing and hope that raising awareness will help stem the tide of trash, maybe at least a little.
I know, or at least would like to think, that most members of this site are on the same wave length but I figured I would share the experience and maybe get him some views as well.
I fish a lot of tidal sections of rivers, the Merrimack specifically and to date I've seen literally tons of garbage floating downriver..including dressers and drawers, refrigerators...Simon and I fished out a plastic bag containing a home arrest ankle bracelet and the receiver for it...not to mention countless bottles/jugs/bags/condoms/tampons...It is really disgusting
One of my favorite swims on the Blackstone in Uxbridge is always full of trash from the people who were there through the week between my sessions. I almost never fail to fill a 20 gallon bag of garbage each visit and I've fished this spot at least 50 times..chances are that is a conservative number. That is a lot of trash to be pulling out over time. His blog states that this Year to Date he has pulled out over 5000, that is five thousand items...another persons blog claimed near 20,000 on some of the rivers they patrol. that is almost thirty thousand pieces of trash from 2 people in a few sections of rivers and lakes..the numbers become simply staggering over time.
I try to promote cleaning up the banks and that is why I really appreciated what this guy was doing and hope that raising awareness will help stem the tide of trash, maybe at least a little.
I know, or at least would like to think, that most members of this site are on the same wave length but I figured I would share the experience and maybe get him some views as well.