Seal drowned in floating net, birds have become entangled in discarded fishing lines at different locations on the Sunshine Coast
(By staff writer)
On a windy day last month, Karen Holland saw a few gulls hovering and flying above the water between the end of the Roberts Creek pier and the mouth of Roberts Creek. Thinking they were feeding, she took a couple of quick pictures.
When she started walking to the end of the pier, she heard bird screams and saw an eagle with a gull in its talons land on the beach on the other side of the creek. The eagle then flew with the gull towards the trees near the parking area. She took more pictures but lost sight of the eagle once it reached the trees.
It wasn’t until she downloaded the pictures that she saw that the first pictures she had taken of the gulls showed that a young gull was entangled in fishing line and could not fly away. She realized that the gulls hadn’t been feeding, they were distressed about the young gull.
When she zoomed in on the pictures of the eagle she noticed there was fishing line with a red lure trailing from the gull.
That same day, Irene Davy at the Gibsons Wildlife Rehab Center received a young gull into care from Roberts Creek. It was entangled in fishing line and suffered from puncture wounds clearly caused by an eagle.
Sadly, when looking at the pictures, it became apparent this was not the same gull Holland had seen: two young gulls on one day found themselves entangled in fishing line at Roberts Creek.
“I realize that raptors need to eat too, but our wildlife should also not be harmed due to discarded fishing line,” Holland said.
“The eagle also may have ingested some of the line, or if it took the gull back to its nest the line could have been more of an entanglement hazard.”
“We see birds caught in fishing line from time to time,” said Davy, who founded the Gibsons Wildlife Rehab Center thirty years ago. “The lines really cut into their skin, like a knife. Smaller songbirds struggle so hard, it’s horrible.”
The young gull she saw last month had deep puncture wounds on either side of his thighs and on his face. His face was covered in blood and his ear hole was full of blood.
“It was completely entangled, I didn’t think he would make it,” she said. Luckily, he did.
“There is just no excuse for this,” Davy said. “It’s just thoughtless of people, not thinking what discarded fishing line does to wildlife. Please cut it up and put it in the garbage.”
Ian Bolden photographed this loon in December at the Selma Park boat launch. Heavy green fishing line was wrapped around its left wing and went through its beak. A foot-long green fishing flasher attached to the line was being towed behind the loon.
“At the time the photo was taken, the bird appeared healthy and uninjured, and was able to swim but I never saw it attempt to dive in the short time I observed it,” Bolden said. “Because I didn’t have the means to rescue the bird at the time I posted the photo along with a story on the internet with a request to keep an eye out for it but no further reports or sightings came up.”
It’s not only birds that suffer. Last month, when she was kayaking in the Sechelt Inlet near Oyster Beach, Mary Beth Pongrac saw a dead seal that drowned as a result of being trapped in a fishing net.
Please, watch your fishing gear.
Such a tragic story. Thanks for publicizing the issue.
Gosh. How terrible and sad. We need to take better care of ALL the precious wildlife here on the Coast. How do we get the message through to those that fish?