Brookhaven announced that five monofilament recycling containers for fishing line as well as five ‘no feeding’ signs will be installed before the end of this week, in an effort to promote good park stewardship and to protect wildlife around Murphey Candler Park.
Recycling containers with instructions in both English and Spanish are being installed in an effort to alleviate fishing litter in and around the lake. “No feeding” wildlife signs are being installed to ask park patrons to not feed the wildlife. Though doing so may seem nice and non-threatening, it actually hinders the wildlife system in place.
“In a nutshell, the feeding has made the wildlife onsite dependent on the community,” said Brookhaven Parks Manager Gary Schussler. “It also results in overcrowding, habitat degradation, delayed migration and water fowl dietary side effects.”
Improperly disposed of fishing line has also become a problem.
“Just this past week we had to reach out to a wildlife rehabilitation non-profit to help in the trapping of several animals to free them of fishing line,” Schussler said. “The signs are there to inform fishers where and why to recycle the fishing line, and it also provides them a resource to dispose of their line properly. We hope that with these it will encourage better use and proper stewardship practices while fishing at the lake.”
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