Cape Lookout Studies Program UPDATE

We sent 31.1 miles of recovered monofilament to Berkley for recycling.That is a lot of monofilament that will not get into the stomachs of sea life.
Photo ID.
We were out on the boat in the estuary and/or ocean looking for dolphins 8 days in July.
We had 6 documented sightings on those trips.
In those 6 sightings we have photographed and identified 18 individual dolphins with distinct dorsal fins.
There were 6 Bonehenge tours given and Keith gave 3 dolphin presentations at the NC Maritime Museum.

Sea Stewards Learn about Monofilament Recycling

Sea Steward Learners 2010

These "Sea Stewards" were part of a field  course through the NC Maritime Museum where they  volunteered with local marine conservation efforts.

They spent a day with us (Cape Lookout Studies Program) checking some of our Monofilament Recovery and Recycling bins at the beach, on a fishing pier, the docks in downtown Morehead City and a fishing spot at Harkers Island Bridge. Often their arms would disappear down the bin. Some of what they pulled up was clean, coiled fishing line. However, even though there is a large NO GARBAGE sign, they also pulled up drink cans and bottles (some half full), dead fish, food wrappers and an odd mix of vegetation. The students were real troopers and kept at it even as it got hot and smelly. We then took our collection from the bins back to our work space and showed them how we sort the contents, weight the fishing line and record all the information on a data sheet. We showed them one of the fish habitats that are made from the fishing line/monofilament that we mail to the recyclers.

Keith Rittmaster with fish habitat

made from recycled monofilament

We hope this program is continued next summer.