INDIANANGLER

I was saddened, seriously upset and blew-up on my last fishing trip when I saw some our fellow anglers dump plastic from the car, chewing gum wrappers and plastic bottles. What followed was a serious heated argument.

I note so many of us anglers and people who complain about the filth and pollution litter without hesitation. And I am not talking about a piece of paper or an apple core that will degrade fast, but about plastic bags, plastic wrappers, plastic bottles, bits of fishing line, just because we may be a bit winded or slightly inconvenienced at that point in time and do not want to carry our garbage to a location where it could be dumped in a proper manner.

When I question these people about their actions they have convenient excuses “Bobby show me a bin” and I say if you cannot find a Fuxxing bin take your damn garbage home or to your hotel with you and then dump it.

The usual counter is “if you are so concerned, why do you buy water in plastic bottles” that is a good one and I hate it. Because yes we could do without waste generated by plastic bottles but this is just a bloody excuse that these guys use to cover up their mess.

I know that there are people on this forum who really take the trouble to manage their garbage and there are also people who pretend that they care but do not give a damn.

I think we all need to make a conscious effort. We need to make some kind of a pledge that we will:

1) Not dump any kind of plastic in any form or metal cans or foil.
2) Discard fishing line properly.
3) Not complain about the lack of bins but carry our garbage with us till we find a suitable place where we can dump it.

I know the other excuse I will get is that how can we be assured that the garbage we dump in what we consider to be a suitable place will not be mismanaged by the person who is responsible for taking care of that garbage and it ends up down some hillside or back into the sea? To this I say, please do not use another excuse, Rome was not built in a day. Let us start small and once we do what we are supposed to do take the next step. But first, let us clean up our act.

I am curious to see how many responses I will get to this post from people saying, yes I can do this and I will, rather than another excuse. May be making a commitment in writing to our fellow anglers will help us remember after that weary treck up and over a hill to a fishing spot and after finishing the water in that now empty bottle to take it back with us instead of dumping it in the middle of nowhere just so that it would lighten your backpack by some 30 grams, save some space or make light the effort that would go into opening and putting something now usless back into your kit.

Yes, we should do our best not to dump any garbage, plastics, discarded lines etc. When I go out for fishing, I bring back everything. Even when i am not fisfing, I dont throw any plastics. Not even my empty cigarette packets. When I was moving around in Lahaul and Spiti, me and my wife even brought back garbages thrown by others. Otherwise some days later we wont be able to go out anywhere.

But there are some places where we are helpless to clean the place by ourself because of the quantity of empty bottles, potato wafers packets, gutka packets. It is very disgusting.

issue very rightfully brought up bobby. cheers.
i do my best to have the least impact on the surroundings on my trips but i could do more - and i shall.

regards
vikram

I stand guilty of all of the above.

I promise to mend my ways.

Thanks Bobby.

Hi Bob

Very well put. This is an awakening for all of us.

Yes, at sometime or the other I have done exactly the very same thing.Lets put to practice,from now on!!

Syd.

Hey Bobster - Nice topic.. This was very much the scene at Fort William a few years back. What resulted was that these very same plastic packets would get washed into the water.. Before long, the swim used to have a lot of plastics and invariably when you dropped your bait there, it would most often than not get tangled with a palstic bag or a cloth..
Many anglers got ticked off and blamed the management for not keeping a clean place to fish.. But nobody realised that the anglers themselves were the ones at fault.

We then started placing bins behind each seat and this resulted in everybody dropping their waste into these bins, and in turn the place got cleaner and cleaner. Over the years, the waters and the banks have become nearly plastic free..

Now and then a plastic bag or bottle might float by or be found on the banks, but this is picked up and disposed off by any angler who is fishing in that area..

I strongly believe that we need to keep our surroundings clean. This goes a long way in, not only enriching the experience and enjoying yourself while fishing..

Sandeep C. - You have been doing a great job on this issue, in your part of the world.. Much Respect

Bobby, thanks for the effort, ... I wont repeat my mistakes

Hi Bobby,
Thanks for bringing light to this topic. I would always get angry when i fight for minutes to land a plastic bag or garbage from the surf.
At that time i never had a thought that it is we who dump these into the ocean,
So taking a pledge here, i will bring all the plastic that i take with me back to dump at my home garbage.

Regards,
binu..

Thanks Bobby for another thread on plastic litter messing up our waters and wilderness areas. We anglers need to make a pledge and make it NOW.
Bops can you send out a message to all members on IA to make a pledge??

Do check my new post on the Cauvery Wildlife Sanctuary.

Sandeep

Right topic Bobby. Anglers should stop being careless and a bad example. Carry a bag and dump all the waste at the proper place.

i agree
and now on i will take care to dump these things in proper place....

This is a problem everywhere. I carry a trash bag on my boat. Whenever
I hook trash or it floats by the boat I simply pick it up and throw it in the
bag. I see it daily at intersection when people throw their trash out the window
Especially cigarette butts. Every car has an ashtray so use it. It's not
that
hard to clean up after oneself.
Remember if you're not part of the solution you might be part of the
problem.

Scott