Copper River Watershed Project and Alaska Brewing Co. are sponsoring a fishing web recycling event from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, May 18, behind the harbormaster’s office in Cordova.
Fishermen are invited to pull out those older nets that are past their prime and bring them, preferably stripped, to the recycling container on the south fill.
Volunteers are also needed to help with stripping nets, in exchange for which, CRWP and the Alaska Brewing Co. will provide a free lunch and free beer.
CRWP has been involved in recycling old fish nets since 2009, when they got one-time funding through the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, which was used to purchase two 40-foot shipping containers.
“We now own two containers and Alaska Marine Lines does the shipping for us,” (to Skagit River Steel and Recycling in Burlington, WA), said Kristin Carpenter, CRWP executive director.
When one container is filled with old nets — about every six months — Alaska Marine Lines will ship them out at no cost, she said.
An added attraction of this year’s event was an offer from Alaska Brewing Co. to be a sponsor, she said.
Anyone who would like to volunteer should contact CRWP operation manager Shae Bowman at 907-424-3334 or shae@copperriver.org.
