Tampa Bay Watch, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit stewardship program dedicated exclusively to the charitable and scientific purpose of protecting and restoring the marine and wetland environments of theTampa Bay Estuary.

Mono filament fishing line is a serious threat to birds and other wildlife in the Tampa Bay area and throughout Florida. Discarded fishing line and other dangerous entangling debris collects in local bird sanctuaries and colonial nesting areas, where birds and other wildlife can easily become entangled or hooked. Hundreds, and probably thousands, of birds die annually in Florida as a result. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission biologists have identified mono filament fishing line as the number one killer of adult brown pelicans. In the water column, fishing line can also affect fish and marine mammals.

Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast contain some of the most important bird colonies in the entire state. In fact, the National Audubon's Florida Coastal Islands Sanctuaries directly protects or assists in the protection of more than 50,000 breeding pairs of birds of 25 species, many of which are endangered, threatened, or a designated species of special concern. Although many of the colonial islands are protected as sanctuaries or wildlife refuges and are closed to public access seasonally or throughout the year, fishing line accumulates and birds unnecessarily die. Careless anglers may snag their line on mangroves and discard it. Birds hooked at fishing piers or elsewhere may return to nesting colonies or roosts, trailing line that drapes over trees and ultimately endangers the lives of the residents. Birds also may weave mono filament line into their nests, threatening both the adults and their young.

  The Ruskin Junior Woman's Club are environmental stewards of 3 mono filament line tubes in E.G. Simmons Park. We clean out the tubes monthly and bring the used line to South Shore Bait & Tackle, where it is then sent out to be recycled.