Fishing Net Recycling : Copperhead River Watershed Project Relaunches Fishing Net Recycling Program
Copperhead River Watershed Project has made exciting progress to re-launch our fishing web recycling program. Rasmuson Foundation has provided funds to be able to purchase a baler that allows to expand recycling capacity. The baler has been installed in Cordova. They have also improved their recycling program, by enforcing stricter drop-off procedures for recyclable nets.
Alaskans use about 800,000 to one million pounds of fishing web in their nets per year. Most old web gets dumped in community landfills, shortening a landfill’s useful life and adding expense to municipal operations. Salmon gillnets and seines are made from nylon, which can be re-processed to manufacture new products like telephones, computer parts, toothbrushes, carpeting and bicycle seats, among others.
The Copper River Watershed Project promotes a salmon-rich, intact watershed and culturally diverse communities by forming partnerships for watershed-scale planning and projects. It covers twenty three communities in the 26,500 square miles of the Copper River watershed. Town populations range from 2,500 people in Cordova, located West of the Copper River delta, to 35 people in McCarthy, a village in the upper basin of the watershed.