San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
UCSD STUDENTS HOPE TO REEL IN FISHING LINE HAZARDS
A UC San Diego student organization is looking to help solve a problem at La Jolla’s Black’s Beach, with the hope that its proposal will spread along the coast.
The UCSD Triton Lobby Corps says discarded used fishing line can entangle wildlife, causing injury or death. The group wants to rid the beach of this hazard by setting up fishing line recycling bins at the beach’s entrances.
The idea came from Michael Tesis, a UCSD student and manager of environmental policy for the Triton Lobby Corps, which is part of the university’s Associated Students, or student council. “We work as the external outreach for the student body,” he said. “We work on things that the student body really cares about, as well as the broader community around UCSD.”
The recycling bins he proposes are “essentially a fourpart PVC set: a long tube with an outstretched part” to put the used fishing line in, Tesis said.
The Triton Lobby Corps project looks to install one bin at each of the four entrances to the 2-mile-long Black’s Beach, two of which are on the northern portion of the beach, which is owned and managed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation.
The other two are on the southern portion of the beach, which is owned by the city of San Diego.
Each bin would cost about $60 to $70, Tesis said, for a total cost of about $300, including materials and installation. He’s hoping the city will fund the project and said the Triton Lobby Corps has met with City Councilman Joe Lacava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, to ask for support.
Lacava said he looks “forward to partnering with the UCSD students and other organizations to move this proposal from concept to implementation.”
Tesis said he also is working with the office of state Sen. Toni Atkins, whose 39th District includes La Jolla, to figure out jurisdictional issues between the two parts of Black’s Beach.
A representative of Atkins’ office said it would share Tesis’ proposal with the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Tesis said he is looking to contract with one of the companies in California that specialize in recycling fishing line. “It becomes profitable to them because the fishing line can be turned into all sorts of fishing gear and sold at tackle shops,” he said.
Tesis said the proposal is meant to be a pilot program. “Our hope is to eventually expand this to beaches across San Diego. We’re doing a lot of community outreach, and a lot of coastal neighborhoods really want this as well.” Organizations in Pacific Beach, Ocean Beach and Coronado have expressed interest in supporting the project, he said.