Our Mission

Tampa Bay Watch is dedicated to fostering a healthy Tampa Bay watershed through community-driven restoration projects, education programs, and outreach initiatives.

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Discovery Center

Explore our educational space on the St. Pete Pier, featuring interactive exhibits, daily programs, and a touch tank full of animals from the estuary!

Together, we can bring life to the bay.

It takes a community to make lasting change and protect the future of Tampa Bay’s ecosystem.

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Volunteer Calendar

Check out all of our upcoming volunteer opportunities.

Become A Member

Are you passionate about protecting our waterways? Take a stand for Tampa Bay’s future.

Our annual events are designed to educate, entertain, and strengthen the community.

Host an unforgettable occasion at our beautiful waterfront event space.

Fishing Line Recycling

Protecting marine life through responsible angling

Tampa Bay inhabitants have a long history of fishing, both commercially and recreationally. To ensure future generations will have the same opportunity to fish our waterways, it’s essential to properly dispose of fishing line and gear.

PROGRAM DETAILS

Impact of fishing line

Our approach

Tampa Bay Watch joins the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission in their statewide initiative to recycle old fishing line. The Monofilament Recovery and Recycling Program (MRRP) is dedicated to reduce fishing line environmental impacts by encouraging recycling through a network of monofilament bins and drop-off locations.

 

Monofilament or “mono,” is a fancy word for the commonly used plastic fishing line. It has great fishing utility, but can take over 600 years to break down and poses serious threat to birds and other wildlife. Improperly discarded mono and fishing gear leads to wildlife entanglement, accidental hooks, and ingestion.

Monotubes

Tampa Bay and the Gulf Coast is home and migration ground for over 40,000 breeding pairs and 25 different bird species that nest annually. In an effort to keep our waterways and bird nesting islands free of mono, we manage 200+ “monotubes” (fishing line recycling bins) and host mono clean-a-thons a few times a year.

ADOPT A MONOTUBE

How does it work?

Adopt
Community members adopt a monotube in their neighborhood
Monitor
Empty the monotube once a month
Report
Reports data to Tampa Bay Watch
Clean
Cleans the line at home or transports it to us
Recycle
Sends off cleaned line to Berkley Fishing Company for recycling

Do you know of a location in the Tampa Bay region that needs a monotube?

Report all entangled marine life to the FWC by calling 888-404-3922.

Email Sara Brehm with questions about this program: sbrehm@tampabaywatch.org

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