Lead Statement
Lead has always been present in fishing, as it is a cheap material and it performs well.
It possesses unique characteristics; high density, malleability, ease of production and cost, making it perfect for a range of fishing products.
So what’s the problem?……. Lead is a highly toxic and poisonous metal!
Lead has well documented hazardous properties and adverse effects on both human health and wildlife. This is why it is placed on the ‘hazardous substance list’, and is included in the candidate list of ‘substances of very high concern’ (SVHC) by the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA).
At all stages of lead usage there are hazards:
- Mining to remove from the ground (highly polluting practice)
- Manufacturing & smelting (harmful gases released)
- Release of lead into the environment (intentionally & unintentionally by anglers)
- Recycling of lead (repeated smelting & manufacturing practices releasing harmful gases)
The demand for lead is increasing, and demand outstrips (the finite) supply, so any continual use of lead requires more mining and processing (recycling) to meet demand, promoting the cyclical hazards. Normally recycling of materials is to be aspired to, but this is not the case with lead, as any processing is hazardous.
The best and safest place for lead is in its natural domain – locked in the earth’s crust.
Lead will not change over time, it is a material in its final state (having decayed from uranium), and it will not become less toxic or less of a risk. Unless it is physically removed, any lead weights or lead containing products released into an aquatic environment are there indefinitely.
Over the course of the many years that lead and fishing have been intertwined, our lakes, rivers and environment have seen a continual increase in lead release from fishing.
This is a worrying trend that needs to stop, so the accumulation of lead already deposited in our lakes and rivers ceases to grow.
European Chemicals Agency (ECHA):
It is estimated that around 4,840 tonnes of lead are dispersed into the EU environment from fishing activities every year.
If the current release of lead continues, approximately 96,360 tonnes of lead will end up in the environment over the next 20 years due to fishing activities.
https://echa.europa.eu/hot-topics/lead-in-shot-bullets-and-fishing-weights
As anglers, the lakes & rivers, the fish, and the environment as a whole, are assets that we have a duty to protect and preserve. The move away from lead in angling is necessary, and the right thing to do. There is no positive to using lead, at every stage it presents health and ecological hazards.
Lead is the cheap and easy option, but not the right one – We can and should do better.
The continued use of lead in angling makes anglers complicit in the ecological damage and harm to life that is intrinsic to this material.
The use of lead is to be avoided wherever possible. The problem has always been that we (anglers) simply had no real choice but to use lead as there were no real genuine other options for modern fishing…… until now!