Fishing line recycling containers installed on Fairhope Pier

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FAIRHOPE – Receptacles along the Fairhope Municipal Pier will give anglers a place to discard fishing line to keep the material out of Mobile Bay where it could harm wildlife, Mayor Sherry Sullivan said.

“If you walk out on the pier right now, you’re going to see some new containers out there. They are microfilament containers where people can discard their fishing line,” she said.

The containers were installed through by program supported by the Mobile Bay Audubon Society, Boy Scout Troop 47, the Fairhope High School marine life science group and Berkeley Fishing, according to city officials.

“So if you’re out there and you see those, you’ll know what those are, but those are to put your microfilament in or your fishing line so they don’t get into the wildlife or the fish and everything that are into the bay,” Sullivan said.

Discarded fishing line can have unintended consequences for wildlife, becoming entangled in beaks, wings, fins and other appendages. Fishing line can also become digested and kill birds, fish, turtles and dolphins who swallow it, according to a city statement.

“We just want to make sure we’re discarding those properly,” Sullivan said. “Something good for our environment.”