Newport in Melbourne is a veritable mine field for our seabirds and other wildlife visiting the area. Strewn all over is discarded fishing line and hooks and other pollutants left by thoughtless visitors to the area. Wildlife Victoria volunteer rescuer, Mandy Hall, who spends hours saving the birds in the area, decided enough was enough. Volunteers and Friends of Wildlife Victoria went out on a cold and frosty morning recently to pick up the rubbish.

Mandy Hall debriefs volunteers on safety before the start of the clean up.

This small band of dedicated people commenced at 10am, a short lunch break (lunch provided by Hobson City Council) and back out till 4pm and the results were staggering. The skip containing the rubbish was surprisingly full and the amount of fishing tackle collected was enough to make you wonder how any bird could avoid entaglement.

Fishing line entangled around the foot

One bird that was not so lucky was the seagull that the volunteers noticed on the day. After a quick capture the bird was found to have line entangled around its foot causing swelling (eventually this would have caused the foot to loose all circulation and drop off). This line was attached to a hook embedded in its skin under its wing, unfortunately for this bird there was another line entangled around its beak and as the volunteers unravelled that line they found the other end disappeared inside the bird's mouth. This bird was rushed to the local vet who, unfortunately, had no choice but to euthanaise it.

Just the fishing lines and hooks shown here, the bulk went in the skip.

Deaths like these need not happen if everyone who visited our waterways treated them with respect, taking home their rubbish and especially their fishing line. Once home the fishing line can be discarded by cutting it into very small peices and placing it into the bin. Fishing line, any longer than 5cm long can be a death trap for our wildlife and if you take it to the park area it is your responsibility to take it home with you.

Congratulations and well done to the dedicated volunteers on the day, a brilliant effort and with the amount of debris collected we can certainly say we saved many birds that day.

More pictures can be seen by clicking here.