River Cleanup

[Billfish715]

I found this on the F&G Website. It's both disturbing as well as refreshing. The amount of litter that was floating in the river was disgusting. The fact that there is a cleanup mechanism to prevent much of that debris from entering the ocean is refreshing. True, it's a big river that flows through a very congested, populated area with catch basins that dump floatables directly into the water. Shopping malls and strip malls with large parking areas that are cluttered with disposables are just as much of a source of pollutants.

Andy, maybe they will loan the machine to you for a week on the Raritan. There is a Raritan Valley Sewage Authority, isn't there? Maybe they will buy one for you. If not, how would a series of booms along the mouths of the trbutaries work to collect floatables?


https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/20...the_passa.html

[Billfish715]

It's a big river that meanders through many municipalities so the amount of pollutants has to be immense. Do any of the pike fishermen on this board see much of the floatables where you fish? I'm sure the downstream flow of trash has to be massive after the spring floods.

[Hookmanski]

i launch my yak in and fish the stretch above little falls in the warmer months. I've caught some nice smallies as well as crappie and redbreast in there.

While the fish don't seem to mind, its pretty gross. Lots of floating trash, bags, etc. i havent fished or explored much below little falls, but with the areas it goes through i can only imagine the trash gets worse.

The disregard some people have for the environment is an epidemic. Hate to say it but these people are slobs with no respect for themselves and even less respect for a public resource. While I appreciate the efforts of the people in the video cleaning the surface level of the river, the amount of trash collected in nothing short of obscene. 40,000 lbs a month on average! Some of the debris is fallen trees and branches but the amount of plastic and consumer trash is incredible. No wonder the world's ocean's are turning into cesspools. Bitter sweet story. As the countries / world's population continues to increase, this problem becomes exponentially worse.

[briansnat]

I remember driving past the section that runs through Paterson and Hawthorne a few years ago after a big flood subsided. The trees and bushes on the banks had literally thousands of plastic bags and other debris caught in their branches.

The islands above Dundee Dam are atrocious, with plastic bottles, bags and other debris shin deep in places. Also balls galore. Basketballs, soccer balls, volley balls, baseballs, softballs. It's really a shame.

[Billfish715]

The environment of the river is only as healthy as the environment through which it passes. When you are on your way to work anywhere in NJ, check the sides of the state highways and off ramps. It is truly disgusting. Look at the parking lots at the shopping malls. If a river or brook passes anywhere close to them, the water will be littered with debris from those malls. Storm sewers all lead to water.

Andy's pictures from one of the tributaries of the Raritan near Bound Brook or Green Brook say a lot for the health of our waters. How do we clean it up? We do it by picking up one piece of trash at a time especially when we are fishing. I always collect discarded monofilament or floatables when I'm streamside on my way back to the car.

Do what you can, wherever you can, whenever you can.