Monofilament fishing line can be found on almost every coastline in Manitoba, according to Judy Robertson, a board member for the Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre. This is why a new program has been designed to eliminate the plastic material from waterways.

The Wildlife Haven Rehabilitation Centre has partnered with the province and TransCanada to implement the Clear Your Gear program. The plan is to install up to 50 receptacles this summer at popular angling locations throughout Manitoba to collect fishing line, which will then be sent away to be recycled into new products, such as tackle boxes and fish habitats.

"The reason it's important to Wildlife Haven is that every year we have wildlife coming through the door that is impacted by monofilament," Robertson said.

Monofilament line, which takes 600 years to break down, is a threat because it can wrap around the body of an animal and cut off their circulation, or they can swallow the hook, line and sinker. Often the animal must be euthanized because it's so detrimental to their health and well-being that they cannot survive in the wild, according to Robertson.

Collecting and recycling the fishing line is the most important aspect of the program, because just discarding the material in the garbage does not resolve the problem, it only moves it, she explained.

"If you put it in the trash it goes to a landfill, and now you're impacting any foxes, coyotes, or gulls that happen to be there," Robertson said. "Anything can be impacted by this."

Overall, she said the main purpose of the program is to create awareness.

"Once (anglers) learn this is what they need to do - it'll be the honour system at this point - I think if people just throw it down and someone beside them knows that it has to go in the receptacle, they will either show them where to put it or they themselves will pick it up and move it. The hope is that people will realize that (monofilament line) is important to get out of the environment," Robertson said.

The wildlife centre intends to install 20 containers at Lockport. The locations of remaining units have yet to be determined.