Litter!!!!!!!!!

Hi Lads

I was out for a walk with herself down the north bull wall down to the statue and on the way down i noticed that the steps down at the end ways full of empty trace packets mono line and fishing crap..

She wasn't to happy with me wanting to pick it up but I explained to herself that we ( the clean anglers ) don't want to get a bad name. Got a bag of a dog walked and proceed to clean up the mess and the amount of people looked at me and asked why I was doing what I was i explained to them that its not the full time angler leaving the dirt but the majority is the people that wants the mackerel.( but not all the time is it just mack bashers!!!!!! Sorry but true )

Any way to cut a long story short I left the place clean and way happy to do so....... AS IT A MARK I LIKE and have had good success at. Just need to respect the marks people fish.....

Well done Sparkey and well said, Im honestly goin to start packing my litter stick, I got one from the council some years back (never relised it was going to be in daily use!!!) any time i go fishin, Question though: would the council object to us leaving a bin bag next to the council bins?? must ring Fingal County council later today and find out about were i can leave this rubbish when I collect it from Howth (my mrs would killl me if I started takin it home, bin charges etc!!)

Also remember personal safety, some of these marks I wouldnt touch the rubbish with my hands (rats, etc) when I fished North wall some weeks back, a very friendly rat tried to make off with some of my bait!! LMAO!! he came right up to me were i was sittin looked up and over at the bait!!

great stuff lads, fair play til yas. i also do this myself when i have to and know a few anglers that do too. lets hope that some of the guys on here take the initiative and encourage others to do the same.
i also made a point of highlighting the issue to my local tackle shops. somebody said earlier that putting a poster up in the shops would be a good idea, i couldnt agree more! its a GREAT idea.
we will have to just persist with this

I have just sent an email to the chairman of IFSA to see if they are willing to print posters and distribute them to tackle shops up and down the country. Lets hope something comes of it.
IMHO anglers need educated that the littering of the shoreline can just not be accepted!
maybe a petition to sign would be an idea too.
cheers

I have just sent an email to the chairman of IFSA to see if they are willing to print posters and distribute them to tackle shops up and down the country. Lets hope something comes of it.
IMHO anglers need educated that the littering of the shoreline can just not be accepted!
maybe a petition to sign would be an idea too.
cheers

no offence but the majority of people who litter probably cant even read, after it does says on a lot of bait packets and on a lot of tackle packets "please take your litter home" and yet they dont.
i dont see that putting poster up in tackle shops will make any difference whats so ever, i know for myself, anything ive read on a poster in the tackle shop, even ones ive taken an actual interest in, ive usually forgotten what it said as soon as i step outside.

i also dont see what a petition would do either...not that i want to put your opinion down as im all for clearing up our shores i just think it will be ineffective

im my opinion, the only way people will learn the lesson is if they have to pay for it. seems these days, esp in the north, every council have a team of litter wardens roaming the streets fining people for dropping litter. they could send one or 2 down to the more popular marks on a busy and could probably have half a dozen fines handed out in the space of an hour, after everyone else sees this they should make sure they keep tidy. of course this theory will only work if the council are actually spending money to send people onto the shore to clean it in the first place, if the council dont care and just expdect the sea to clean i dont see them spending the money to send someone out.

If you make the poster very simple, a photo with litter on a mark, with words NO LITTER, even those that cant read will get the message! short sharp sweet, but as yngkmd said will they do it?? I don't know, but it starts small, if we even manage to get one person to stop throwing thier empty packets around/ beer cans/ mono/ etc I personally think it would be worth it, as one person would stop, then the following would be lookin, who knows we could start a movement

I've printed off this on the back of score cards

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excellent!

Good sign. Should make some people think just a bit more.

Very good thats what is needed to be done Fair Play Donal

I have just sent an email to the chairman of IFSA to see if they are willing to print posters and distribute them to tackle shops up and down the country. Lets hope something comes of it.
IMHO anglers need educated that the littering of the shoreline can just not be accepted!
maybe a petition to sign would be an idea too.
cheers

no offence but the majority of people who litter probably cant even read, after it does says on a lot of bait packets and on a lot of tackle packets "please take your litter home" and yet they dont.
i dont see that putting poster up in tackle shops will make any difference whats so ever, i know for myself, anything ive read on a poster in the tackle shop, even ones ive taken an actual interest in, ive usually forgotten what it said as soon as i step outside.

i also dont see what a petition would do either...not that i want to put your opinion down as im all for clearing up our shores i just think it will be ineffective

im my opinion, the only way people will learn the lesson is if they have to pay for it. seems these days, esp in the north, every council have a team of litter wardens roaming the streets fining people for dropping litter. they could send one or 2 down to the more popular marks on a busy and could probably have half a dozen fines handed out in the space of an hour, after everyone else sees this they should make sure they keep tidy. of course this theory will only work if the council are actually spending money to send people onto the shore to clean it in the first place, if the council dont care and just expdect the sea to clean i dont see them spending the money to send someone out.

no offence taken at all mate but i do disagree somewhat...
You might forget what a poster has said but others, and I, wouldn't necessarily forget. The posters can only be a good thing in that they would build peoples awareness over time as well..! i.e. the more they read it the more it sinks in, and the more the notion will be passed onto the next generation. Tackle shop owners can also be asked to highlight the problem to customers too... as a lot of the rubbish will have originated from their shops and so the matter will affect their reputation/livelihoods too.
Its worth a go in my opinion.

The benefit of a petition on the other hand would be to have something to offer 'weight' to the issue i.e. showing a list of those people disgusted at the litter situation and demanding something be done about it. Hopefully it wont have to come to this though.
Nor can I realistically see council staff heading down to rock marks ("hazardous conditions") and waiting for one angler to chuck a bit of litter, but I can appreciate the idea. Its certainly worth chasing up and worth seeing if the councils can offer any solution to the matter! http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Dl1/Directories/DG_10011735 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_gove ... y_councils

I have now forwarded the same email that i sent to the IFSA to the chairman and committee of the Angling Council of Ireland. Lets see if anyone gets back to me........

The posters can only be a good thing in that they would build peoples awareness over time as well..! i.e. the more they read it the more it sinks in,

good point, i hadnt considered that

Tackle shop owners can also be asked to highlight the problem to customers too... as a lot of the rubbish will have originated from their shops and so the matter will affect their reputation/livelihoods too.

good idea

Hi, i just received the email circulated around IFSA, hadnt noticed this thread on here somehow!!

I'm conservation and pollution officer in the UPC. This issue has been raised countless times over the forum before and it didnt get far, with suggestions that putting up signs to discourage it may be considered littering or against the law itself!

my opinion (not speaking for UPC or IFSA here) is that the federation should be working on this somehow, and financially supportting any drive to get rid of the littering problem. As a federation we are not directly responsible for all littering on the fishing venues around the coast, but I feel that we should lead by example in trying to stamp it out. Some comments made already on here that its purely 'holiday anglers', 'foreign nationals' and 'novices' that leave litter behind are rubbish themselves! Quite a few times both myself and fellow anglers have had to clear litter off a beach following open competitions, and have received complaints from public following different club competitions etc, but with no evidence as to who exactly was responsible for leaving it behind, no action could be taken, and although i am unable to prove it, trust me, even some anglers of international experience are guilty of it.

Ideas to counter it.....

Posters in tackle shops - they may help to get the message across, but by the time half the anglers get to their venue it will have gone in one ear and out the other.
Flyers put in same bag as bait orders in tackle shops - might create more litter, but perhaps it may keep the matter in all anglers minds when they are using the bait packaging etc. likewise bait shops could get the message printed on their carrier bags.
Signs at venues - Make them to be noticed, but may need council permission to erect such, indeed i would hope that councils would fund them if approached as it saves them time and money in the long run.
Bins - all of the above are near useless unless councils supply adequate refuse facilities at venues as a lot of anglers will not take the stuff home with them again even if they carry it off the venue to the car park or wherever..... these would then have to be regularly emptied as the public would then be complaining to them about the fishy smell in the bins, plus vermin etc.
CLubs - We must enforce a strict code/rules on litter and strictly punish those found responsible and impliment systems where we can catch those responsible. Are clubs willing to help fund an inititive to try to help stop the problem? should it be signs, posters, flyers???

just a few ideas above, i notice Barry started this thread, just a reminder to any UPC affiliatted club members, If you do come across litter problems on venues, please inform me, I can do little in my position unless i am given the information to work on.

As for the match fishing situation in Ulster I hope to have a litter plan in place for next year following this years AGM if clubs can agree to it.

Well said Phil, but on a note, I have noticed the litter does increase with the arrival of Macky bashers around certian marks, BUT sadly though other marks just recently reported non-macky- beachcasting areas are increasing with litter as well mono bundled and thrown etc.. I picked up a bag full of the stuff the other night (mostly empty feather packs), my biggest fear is popular marks will be closed to fishing due to litter problems, but thanks to this thread highlighting the issue (Bazzer did an excellent job!!) Word is spreading even just from a simple thread, and possible solutions are being thought of, more importantly this thread is being read near and far, One bait shop i purchased from, put on the bait lid PLEASE TAKE YOUR LITTER HOME! printed in big writting I thought it was brilliant! Which got me thinkin even more (I do alot of that when the fish arent biting), those plastic tubs must cost the supplier money (all be it cheap?) but if there was a way of bringing them back to the shop for a refill? or some insentive to bring them back as they do in the States regarding tin cans of coke/Pepsi/7up etc might help in small ways, I find insentives work better then fines.
One mark I fish someone painted on the rocks in big white letters TAKE YOUR RUBBISH HOME, althought not nice to look at, oddly enough it seemed to work as rarely is the place littered badly, now and again i might find the odd empty tackle pack or mono on that mark despite how busy its gotten, and during stormy weather packets and bait tubs can easily be blown out of someones hands and in cases as such I'd rather ppl not chase empty packets off a cliff, but were as (and i have seen it) "People" opening a fresh packet of rigs, and literaly throwing it on the ground, swilling down a beer can and either into the sea or over the shoulder it goes. BUT the message is getting out there, as i noticed one angler that was fishin with bait was packin up leaving an empty bait tub on the ground, walked about 5 paces away came back and picked it up.

[chuckaroo]

Hi Big Phil
all those ideas to counter the littering sound great. Im sure that they would all have an effect, without a doubt.

So all these ideas need pursued.. The posters and flyers need printed and distributed and carrier bags with messages need organised too. We want to fix this problem long-term and make litter awareness a permanent part of all future fishing tackle purchases. Don't you agree? Can you, or somebody at ISFA or UPA, get onto this and start doing something about it all?!

It would be great if councils would do something too - signs and bins would be invaluable - but i wouldn't be holding my breath. I believe that posters and flyers ARE the answer in the meantime but we need to get all the sea-angling authorities, tackle shops, tackle manufacturers, bait suppliers, and clubs etc. on board too.

Would posters be a good starting point? - they could have a better effect than you might think, for all those reasons mentioned above. Maybe the flyers and messaged plastic bags could follow soon after. Hopefully the funding is there but, then again, maybe the tackle manufacturers should be obliged to make a bigger effort.

This issue has been raised countless times over the forum before and it didnt get far

Lets hope that this does not happen again this time!

As someone said earlier, its nearly impossible to police all the fishing marks but at least these posters and flyers will make a statement. They will educate all anglers that littering simply isn't acceptable. The message should sink in over time..
This litter problem is a disgrace. It is unsightly, polluting, a hazard to wildlife, and an embarrassment to all Irish anglers. God knows what the tourists make of it..
Lets hope that something comes of all this!!

Last edited by chuckaroo on Thu Sep 01, 2011 12:15 am, edited 3 times in total.

If you give Authorities the idea that they could ban angling, how long before they start wondering if they should ban it?

Just saying, like.

sadly its happen in england on certain marks there but the english angling society are fighting back on it, the thing is I dont want to see it come to that though i would doubt it if it would get to that stage, most likely thing they do is tax us some way grrrrr we'd all be going home with worms in our pockets!!
And Irish Angling tourism is worth far too much economy wise for them to ban it from our shores, but a thread like this is vital for getting action done

was at a rock mark yesterday and it was full of empty coke/beer tins empty hook/swivel pkts

And hunterman did you do anything about the rubbish that was there by any chance

[chuckaroo]

folks i have a had a few replies from the email that I circulated.

I received an email from a member of the IFSA who has seen the litter for themselves and can only fully understand our concerns; they too have stated their disgust at the problem and agree that something has to be done about it.
The person has offered to "discuss what can be done to assist in cleaning it up" during the next IFSA Central Council meeting which is this Saturday i.e. tomorrow. so heres hoping!!
The same person also informed me that The Angling Council of Ireland are signing-up to (i guess either in the process of signing up to, or soon intend to sign-up to) a country-wide programme called Leave No Trace. Apparently details of this will be circulated in time. (Info on Leave No Trace can be found here: http://www.leavenotraceireland.org/)

I have also received a reply from one of the IFSAs secretaries stating that they will "bring this letter up" at their next Council meeting and then get back to me with a reply. So lets see what comes of this too.

fingers crossed

Chuckaroo

p.s. btw, I still again pushed for posters to be made and distributed to all tackle shops!! as I still firmly believe in these posters and to their potential.
Its about time something is done about this litter issue!! and to the threat it poses!

Last edited by chuckaroo on Sat Sep 10, 2011 4:37 pm, edited 3 times in total.

p.s. i have been providing a link to this thread here in the hope that it will be read by these people and many others, so feel free to contribute more opinions on the matter and/or even post up more photographs of the litter!!!
actually, more photographs could only be a good thing!

Will do, but most of the marks I fished recent have been very clean, dont know if its ppl actually takin care, or high winds, will make a point of going to a few mackie bashing areas later this week (fingers crossed I dont have to take out the litter stick )