Dear Town Manager Jim Feeney,
On April 8, 2025, a Great Blue Heron perished after it was entangled in fishing line and hook dangling from a tree branch at Hill's Pond in Menotomy Rocks Park.
Discarded fishing gear waste is a huge issue at our local ponds and is responsible for injuries to resident wildlife with increasing frequency and severity. Last fall, Save Arlington Wildlife rescued a juvenile Black Crowned Night Heron discovered on the shores of Spy Pond that also had a fish hook in its wing and the whole body was entangled in fishing line. That same month a Great Blue Heron was pictured swallowing a fish still attached to a line and bobber at Hill's Pond. Without intervention, that heron is presumed to have died from sustaining that injury.
Our resident wildlife face increasing threats to their survival from habitat fragmentation, rodenticide poisoning, drought due to global warming, avian flu, and plastic pollution. Hill's Pond is particularly vulnerable to these outside pressures and recreational fishing and the plastic fishing waste that result only compound these pressures. Hill's Pond is a very small, 3 acre pond. In the past four out of five years, the pond has experienced toxic algal blooms during the summer season (which also tends to be the height of recreational fishing season). Last summer and fall of 2024, the area experienced record-drought--the second major drought we have had since 2022-- that dried up close to to a third of the acreage of the pond, considerably shrinking wildlife habitat and increasing pressures on existing wildlife. Of note, the area that dried up is the only corner of the pond not covered by tree canopy, which means recreational fishers were in turn forced to fish in those areas directly under or in very close proximity to tree canopy--increasing risks of snagged line. The heron that perished was entangled in a hook and line that had snagged from an overhanging tree branch.
There are limited options to safely mitigate fishing pressures in a pond so small. Trimming tree branches would not only shrink songbird and wildlife habitat, but would make the pond even more susceptible to drought and algae outbreaks than it already is from climate change. Recycling receptacles have been piloted and have failed to result in significant reduction in fishing line waste at the pond.
For these reasons, Save Arlington Wildlife, and the undersigned residents and neighbors of Arlington are requesting that the Town Manager immediately pause recreational fishing at Hill's Pond pending review of the problem. We are also asking that the Town implement measures to minimize fishing line/gear waste at its other ponds and waterways, including increased clean-ups, installation of signage, and designated fishing areas (and conversely areas where fishing is restricted such as under tree canopy) with installation and promotion of recycling receptacles along Spy Pond Park.
We also request that any fishing restrictions be coupled with effective enforcement.
Thank you for listening.
Sincerely,
