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Thursday, 25 October 2007

G.R.E.E.N sinker weights

Enviroweights

I have to admit to being a little surprised that the first I've seen of these Enviroweight sinkers was in a Kmart store this morning. I would have expected to find such a thing in a specialist tackle store (not that I spend much time looking at sinkers) but so far I haven't. It's not common for me to buy any tackle from the likes of Kmart (I was there looking for a birthday present for my son) but today was an exception. I figured these were too good a product to walk past. We kayak fishermen have an environmentally friendly reputation after all, so this just helps maintain the image.

I've never think of recreational fishoes to be environmentally destructive (not the ones who take it seriously, anyway) but I have put some thought into what the effects of all that lead that we tend to throw into the sea might be doing. Sure, most of it returns from the water safely and is later disposed of in other ways, but sometimes a snag or fish will lay claim to a sinker or jighead. God only knows how much lead is sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor - especially close to our shores. So I figured the responsible thing to do would be to replace my small collection of sinkers with these Enviroweights. I reckon it might also be responable for specialist tackle stores to consider stocking them (Tacspo are the distributors for those of you retailers paying attention).

Responsibility is precisely what the manufacturers are pitching as well, with a clearly labelled 'G.R.E.E.N' on the front of the packets. What does G.R.E.E.N stand for? Greater Responsibility for Environment, Ecology and Nature. Clever. And cute.

So what makes them environmentally responsible? Well, apparently they are 100% biodegradable if lost to sea. When committed to Davey Jones, over time they will decompose back to their harmless base ingredients. Of course, this does mean that they really should be rinsed in fresh water after use, because otherwise they are likely to start decomposing in the tackle box. I reckon that's a small price to pay for upside, which is the ability to confidently say 'screw you hippy'.