How much lead at the bottom of the sea?

[bigmack]

Guys I was just wondering how much lead was on the bottom and whether this would ever effect the fish & then us with lead poisoning? if you have been fishing for twnety odd years and lost a couple of pounds of leads, snapper leads etc over the favourite reef then multiply that by all the fisherman..................we must be talking thousands of pounds.

Does the reef take care of it by encrusting it with growth and is it inert in its moulded state?

Also - what do people use as alternatives for sinkers etc.

Also - do any of the divers out in the forum find many lures and sundry stuff lying around (me thinking about my Purple Pakula Cockroach and others that we lost lost season)

Thanks
Phill

[Volvo]

Mac, ya forgot ta mention lead balast from ships gone down in yesteryears, lead weights gone adrift from divers, Shells from past bumfights and, and :-/ :-/??????....
But ya do have a good point there :-?..
Now lemme see what could replace the ole lead as a faithfull sinker??.Might be a bob to be made here ey :-/..

[Louis]

Personally I don't know what affect it has on the enviroment.

I do know however that a Queensland company did start manufacturing lead sinkers with a special paint on them that was designed to aid in growth on the sinker and thereby reduce the amount of lead leaching into the water.

I think these sinkers can still be bought in many Tackle stores.

Also I know that some parts of Europe have banned lead sinkers in some areas. Apparantly some birds accidentally injest them whilst forraging for food in the mud at the bottom of lakes and streams etc and become sick and/or die.


Hope this info helps.



Louis

[szopen]

There would be a fair bit of lead on the bottom.

One must remember though that there is a lot of the sea bottom to cover, even a large piece of stuff going down might be difficult to find (Titanic comes to mind).

I would also guess that the amount of lead going to the bottom as a result of fishing (even if pros are included) would be very small comparing to the amounts going in from the industry (and these are already in suspension or dissolved so it can eneter the food chain much easier).

Situation in fresh water is very different as the area is generally much smaller, more fishos/square km resulting in higher density of lead at the bottom. Some of it ends in shallow areas where sometimes it can be swallowed by birds.

Yes in some places in Europe lead sinkers are banned (same with lead shot for shotguns, lead bullets)

The alternatives are steel sinkers, steel shot. More expensive but usable.

I dive a bit and have found some lures (mostly in fresh water for above mentioned reasons) I did found a couple of big sinkers on the sea bottom as well.

[littlejim]

lead oxidises pretty quickly. Notice how your shiny newly made sinkers are a beautiful silver and a month or so later they are a dull grey. After that they don't interact with the water as much. So I don't think we are contributing to global warming/toxic fish/end of the world as we know it.

As the other posts say, what we leave behind compared to WWI and WWII is going to be pretty insignificant. Although those B***dy leather jacket biting lines off JB have made my contribution start to mount up.

Maybe by 3030 it will be worth mining the bottom for the stuff.
recommend just outside the mouth of JB as a starting point.

[Jeremy87]

Fresh water might be a small issue. Salt not really. Theres over a billion cubic kilometres of water in the ocean, how much lead in solution is there? I'd be more concerned with sinkers actually swallowed by the fish than sinkers stuck on the bottom. I don't really see the problem with lead. Were did it originally come from hey. Give it time and it will all oxidise and just become an anomaly in the earths crust.

[gif]

The dilution of lead - would be enormous - the ocean is big.

Its not even a concern in Freshwater impoundments.

I studied up on this and even the greenest greenies had no argument. They DID however have an argument that just 2 birds called Loons died when they ate lead pellets ( from shot guns) - you know how birds pick up pebbles to crunch food in their gizzard.

The only concern I can see is in handling it lots - so don’t eat your sinkers.

I buy TT jigs in Lead free. They are made of cutlery grade pewter So as safe as a spoon.


Gary

[Maria]

Diving at numerous spots I've seen some pretty crazy coral/crust formations around sinkers in varying sizes. Quite interesting. I doubt however that the amount of lead on the bottom will adversly affect us or the environment.

[gawby]

Well let me tell you there are two of my anchors, two lenghts of chain and a
100 meters of rope on the ocean floor pluss how many pounds of sinkers and hooks, trace wire.
Put all this together and you might form an artificial reef.
Graeme

[littlejim]

Gawby,

I also have paid an identical amount to become a member of that club. When all the debates on Sand/fishermans/sarca anchors are on I always hope someone knows about snag free chain. I also worry about Col Buckley advocating pulling the anchor up from the stern. I would have sunk stern first twice if I did that.

[gawby]

Littlejim,
Dam right about that. You will never see me pulling an anchor from the stern.
Both times the bow has dug in and i have s---t my pants. It is a bit of a worry for a while and then they have let go. Phew.
Rather loose the anchor than the boat out there.
Graeme :)