Clean up our act

[johnlikes2fish]

Last week my family thought we'd get involved in Clean up Australia day and remove some of the rubbish from Shark Bay (Iluka) as we fish a bit there.
Apart from literally thousands of plastic water bottles (seriously the number of these things is a crime they should ban them) the main crap we cleaned up was fishermans rubbish from hundreds of pillie prawn and other bait bags to miles of fishing line and of course the empty stubbie/cans that are drunk while fishing. I filled my car twice and didnt make a dint on the piles of rubbish we just leave on our beaches or toss overboard.>:(
I will be taking a bag with me each time I go now and take a load of other peoples rubbish home, it would be nice if people took there own s**t home.>:(
On a positive note I did collect a nice selection of lures from amongst the rubbish.:D

[theoldlegend]

Yeah mate, I've seen some of the rubbish along Shark Bay.

Even worse is the rubbish that people leave out on the wall at Iluka. Some people are simply too lazy to clean up after themselves.
Fishing line, plastic bags, beer cans and stubbies, you name it, it's all out there.

Are you a local there?


TOL

[Marlin_Mike]

Im down there at easter can you have yamba all pristine for me please..........


Mike

[finga]

That's sad news really.
I remember rowing a bondwood boat around Shark Bay when I was a kid all those years ago and the place was pure magic.
How things have changed but thanks for wanting to try and get it back to the area I knew as a kid.

[HeadBanger]

I also participated in Clean Up Australia Day around Coombabah Creek.

The amount of trash I found was ridiculous. Everything from wheel barrow axles to weight loss pill packets to rusted, deformed crab pots.

I would've easily picked up more than 50 beer bottles too. The way we treat our environment is just atrocious.

Cheers,
Kaidon

[johnlikes2fish]

Sorry Mike not much can be done for Yamba.
I am a part time local fished there for over 20 yrs and have a house there but spend most time in Bris

[johnlikes2fish]

Good on you for helping out Kaidon I wish more of us fisherman had been involved, I reckon a few people setting a good example will encourage others to do the same.

[Feral]

I will be taking a bag with me each time I go now and take a load of other peoples rubbish home, it would be nice if people took there own s**t home

I used to do that before the Council started charging me to dump rubbish. Cant afford to pay to dump other mongrel's garbage.

[johnlikes2fish]

I think part of the problem around Iluka is the lack of bins as its National Park they try to encourage people to take their rubbish with them and so provide no bins (although I have a feeling a bin or two on the wallwere burnt as well) so people tend to just dump where as they may use a bin if provided.
Might write a letter and suggest they at least try bins again.

[trymyluck]

I used to do that before the Council started charging me to dump rubbish. Cant afford to pay to dump other mongrel's garbage.


What no rubbish bins on the way home??
We used to do a lot of weekend riding and camping with a Lake Macquarie trail riding club and one of our polices was to always try and leave where we had been looking better then before we were there. If that included taking some inconsiderate As%$ole's rubbish with us so be it.


Still do the same.


Mark

[aussiefool]

Mate I do not think that it is just the National Parks around Iluka... Have a good look at any public open space these days. The lack of rubbish bins is a wide spread problem. The more rubbish bins then the more people councils have to employ to empty them. All about the $$$$$. Cheaper to toss a few $$ to clean up Australia day. I know just walking down any street looking for a bin to toss an empty drink bottle or a cigarette butt is a challenge within itself. For some it will be easier just to toss it away.

[gr hilly]

most the rubbish comes from people who go fishing for the hell of it, the fisherman who loves fishing takes his rubbish plus the crap they find on the water(someone else's)i nearly got bashed telling a bloke to pick up his rubbish at a boat ramp last month he had me by the shirt,and then a 6ft6in burly fella turned up and picked him up and shook him like a rat if you reading this mate thank you so much id love to buy you a drink one day
all the best hilly

[Damned67]

I always seem to be cleaning up after others. If I'm motoring somewhere in the boat, and see something floating (usually a can or stubbie), I swing by and grab it. When camping, I always aim to leave the campground cleaner than I found it. Last camping trip, my/our rubbish would have been lucky to make up 20% of the rubbish I bought home and had to deal with.
I enjoy the beauty of the water and the environment, and I just cant comprehend why others feel it's OK just to dump their rubbish where ever they want. It's like smokers throwing their butts out the car window... HEELLLLOOOOO, you have an ashtray in there, Knob End!

Maybe we could have an Ausfish 'clean up a fishing spot' day, try and get some media coverage, and show the population that not all fishos are a bunch of inconsiderate losers!

[Knotpretty]

I work on bridges and it's very sad what crap people leave behind. They are pigs with no respect for this country and the environment. Harsher penalties and even goal time for serious offenders should be looked at. But we have very weak laws and very weak law keepers. Good on you for doing your bit. My wife and I walk around Ballina on the weekend and usually pick up two to three shopping bags of empty stubby bottles and other rubbish. mojo

[Benben86]

i agree with everything said. When we go fishing we want to catch fish, hense the name, not some dirty buggers plastic bag.

[Scalem]

Is it any wonder why it can be hard getting a signature on a petition against exclusion zones when I get into discussion about preserving our environment and how rec fishermen are contributing.... gets me slightly wound up this does!!

Scalem

[MajesticMarine]

how hard is it to just take a few plastic bags or buckets on board and toss your rubbish in the nearest bin when you've finished your day out.

I make a point of embarrassing the hell out of people when they litter on our beaches.

Apart from being a mad fisher and boater, I am also an avid surfer and there is nothing worse than watching junk float past while sitting on your surfboard. Actually yes there is, coming up from a duckdive and finding a peice of plastic or other rubbish attached to your face. Most of the time I make an effort and grab the rubbish and stuff it in my wetty so i can rubbish it when i get out of the water.

One of my pet hates.

[LostNearBribie]

Yes not good.
What lures did you pick up mate?

[rando]

Mate send me your address,, all those lures are mine!!!!:P;D;D;D