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Keep Getting the Lead Out -- It's the Law!
Click here
for "The Nonlead Tackle Advantage" and learn more
about the excellent tackle you can now use instead of lead.
Loons and other waterbirds can die from lead
poisoning after swallowing lead fishing sinkers and jigs lost by anglers.
According to the Loon Preservation Committee, poisoning from lead
fishing tackle accounts for 52 percent of mortalities among adult
and immature loons from 1976 through 2000, by far the largest single
cause of adult loon mortality in New Hampshire.
State law prohibits the use of lead sinkers
and jigs in all fresh water in New Hampshire, including lakes,
ponds, rivers and streams. The ban prohibits the use of lead sinkers
weighing 1 ounce or less and lead jigs less than 1 inch long along
their longest axis.
The law also prohibits
the sale in New Hampshire of lead sinkers weighing 1 ounce or less
and lead jigs less than 1 inch long along their longest axis.
What you can do:
- Use non-lead sinkers and jigs. It's the law.
- Ask your local sporting goods store to stock
non-lead fishing tackle. It's the law.
- Spread the word. Tell other anglers about
the problem with lead.
- Dispose of old lead sinkers and jigs properly.
Drop-off locationsinclude all N.H. Fish and Game offices and hatcheries
(see list below).
The law is intended to protect loons and other
diving waterbirds that can accidentally ingest toxic lead sinkers
as they pick pebbles up from lake bottoms. The pebbles grind food
in the birds' gizzards to help their digestion. Ingesting lead can
kill a bird in a matter of weeks.
Anglers can safely dispose of their old lead
sinkers and jigs at:
- All Fish and Game
regional offices (Concord, Durham, Keene, Lancaster, and New
Hampton) and state fish hatcheries (Berlin, Milford, New
Hampton, New Durham, Twin Mountain and Warren).
- Household Hazardous Waste Collections held
throughout the state. Call the N.H. Department of Environmental
Services at 603- 271-2047, or visit
www.des.state.nh.us/hhw for more information.
- The Loon Preservation
Committee's visitor center on Lee's Mills Road in Moultonborough.
Visit www.loon.org.
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