Fishing tackle bins are being installed in more Ballina locations after 350 native animals, including four green turtles, were entangled in lines in the Northern Rivers last year.

Ballina Shire Council installed purpose-built hook and line bins last year at key high-traffic fishing spots in the Ballina area – Gawandi Beach, Fishery Creek, and North Wall – to safeguard local wildlife as part of a trial.

These bins collected 2,500 metres of fishing line, as well as hooks, swivels, lures, sinkers, and bait packets. Given the bins’ effectiveness, more are to be rolled out around the shire.

Australian Seabird and Turtle Rescue (ASTR) said last year it treated 364 native animals entangled in lines, including 27 pelicans, 15 silver gulls, four green turtles, four daters, and a gannet.

ASTR spokesperson Phoebe Taylor said the wildlife hospital is in favour of anything that helps prevent hook-and-line injuries.

“I saw two turtles, one with a line entanglement so heavily wrapped around its flipper that we thought that its flipper may need to be amputated,” she said.

“But it did, fortunately, make a full recovery. We then also had another turtle that actually ingested a hook.

“The fishermen abided by the ‘don’t cut the line’ rule and reeled it in and got it to us, so it did survive. Obviously, if he’d just cut the line and let it go, it would have died.”

Australian Seabird Rescue is keen to see fishing tackle bins in as many popular fishing spots as possible.

Ms Taylor said pelicans are susceptible to hook and line injuries because they hang around people.

“Recently, we had Jeffrey, who was a Kingscliff pelican in here with a hook in his neck,” she said.

“It was removed, and he had a week of rehab and was released. We then had a Banora Point Pelican accidentally hooked by someone. We looked over that pelican, and he had three other old hook injuries.”

Balina Shire Council says if there is no available fishing line bin, dispose of fishing waste in a red bin or take it home and dispose of it responsibly.