SECTION 4: Management Measures

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4.10. FISH WASTE MANAGEMENT

Management Measure for Fish Waste Management:

Promote sound fish waste management through a combination of fish-cleaing

restrictions, public education, and proper disposal of fish waste.

Management Measure Description

Fish waste can create water quality problems at

marinas where a lot of fish are landed. This might

be the case where long piers or breakwaters

provide access to deep water or accommodation

for many fishers, where fishing tournaments are

held, or at any marina during the local high fishing

season. The waste from fish cleaning shouldn’t be

disposed of into a marina basin because of the

chance of overwhelming the natural ability of the

waterbody to assimilate and decompose it. The

dissolved oxygen consumed by the decomposing

fish parts can cause anaerobic, foul-smelling

conditions. Unconsumed or floating fish parts are

also an unattractive addition to the marina property. Fish waste is better disposed of in offshore

waters (if the state allows) where the fish are

caught, or treated as waste like any other and

deposited in trash containers.

Proper disposal of fish waste by marina patrons

helps keep marinas clean and free of waste.

Although only a few marinas deal with large

amounts of fish waste or fishing within the basin,

sport fishers can be found at most marinas, and it

is a good idea for marinas to promote proper fish

waste disposal. Fish cleaning stations provide

convenient places for marina patrons to clean fish

and dispose of their waste material, and they help

to keep the rest of the marina clean. Marina

managers often find that once a good fish cleaning station is available to fishing patrons, the

patrons gladly use it because gutting a fish at a

fish cleaning station avoids the mess created on a

boat or dock. Non-fishing marina patrons are

likely to appreciate not having fish waste on docks

or floating near their boats.

Some states prohibit fish waste from being

discarded in nearshore waters and require that

marinas prohibit the practice. Without a designated place to clean fish, docks, piers, and

bulkheads can become dirty quickly.

Applicability

This management measure is applicable to

marinas where fish waste is determined to be a

source of water pollution. Many of the BMPs

mentioned for this management measure are

implementable by marina patrons and are not

directly under the control of marina managers.

Best Management Practices

♦ Clean fish offshore where the fish are

caught and discard of the fish waste at sea

(if allowed by the state).

Fish waste can be disposed of in the offshore

ecosystems from which the fish are caught. The

quantity of fish waste produced from recreational

fishing generally should not cause any water

quality problems in open waters. Some states

(such as Florida) require that all game fish be

brought ashore intact for measurement by fisheries officials, and this management practice does

not apply.

♦ Install fish cleaning stations at the marina

and at boat launch sites.

A fish cleaning station is a particular area set

aside for cleaning fish that have been caught. It

typically has a cutting table large enough to

accommodate a few to many people, a freshwater

hose or other form of running water, and receptacles for the waste. Boaters and fishers can be
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National Management Measures Guidance

informed of the presence of the station and

encouraged to use it. To keep the stations attractive and sanitary, they should be cleaned frequently,

even as often as after each use. Making the station

convenient to use and clean will encourage people

to keep it clean themselves. Fish waste is placed in

covered containers, and the collected waste is

disposed of with other solid waste or by some

other environmentally friendly means. (Refer to

the next management practice.) If nutrient

enrichment is not a problem in regional waters,

fish cleaning stations can use garbage disposal

units to grind the waste and then send the ground

waste to a municipal sewer line for waste disposal. As always, when state or local regulations

could be applicable, check with the environmental

authority to determine whether they apply.

Where extensive fishing is done from a boat

launch site, fish cleaning stations can be helpful.

Fish waste disposal is a problem at boat launch

sites because boaters return from fishing and

usually want to clean their catch before they

leave. Fish cleaning stations provide the ideal

facility where fishers can gather to discuss their

catch and clean it before heading home. As with

a marina fish cleaning station, fish waste can be

collected in covered containers and disposed of

like regular trash or ground and emptied into a

local sewage disposal system (where local

regulations permit). An alternative approach

would be to install an onsite disposal system with

a holding tank, though this is not recommended

where waterbodies have nutrient enrichment

problems.

♦ Compost fish waste where appropriate.

A law passed in 1989 in New York forbids

discarding fish waste, with exceptions, into fresh

water or within 100 feet of shore. Contaminants

in some fish leave few alternatives for disposing

of fish waste, so Cornell University and the New

York Sea Grant Extension Program conducted a

fish composting project to deal with the more than

2 million pounds of fish waste generated by the

salmonid fishery each year. In the demonstration

project, fish parts were mixed with peat moss and

the mixture quickly turned into an excellent

compost suitable for gardens. The study found

that even with this quantity of waste, if

composting was done properly, the problems of

odor, rodents, and insects were minimal and the

process was effective. Another method of fish

waste composting, described by the University of

Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute, is suitable for

amounts of compost ranging from a bucketful to

the quantities produced by a fish-processing plant.

A local Extension Service can be contacted for

information on locally applicable composting

procedures and equipment and where supplies

can be purchased.

♦ Freeze fish parts and reuse them as bait or

chum on the next fishing trip.

Fishers may consider recycling their own fish

waste into bait for their next fishing trip. The fish

parts from one fishing trip can be placed in a

plastic bag, frozen, and then used on the next

excursion as bait or offshore chum to attract

game fish.

♦ Encourage catch and release fishing, which

does not kill the fish and produces no fish

waste.

The increasingly popular practice of “catch and

release” by recreational and competitive fishermen is reducing the fish waste problem at many

marinas.

BMP Summary Table 10 summarizes the BMPs

for Fish Waste Management mentioned in this

guidance.
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