Definitely. There is enough distrust and suspicion in the world as it is.
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How would you react if you saw a lot of sinkers (like 10) lying in small stone holes under the cliffs on the beach? 
Take photos of the environmental hazard and collect as many sinkers as you can? Involve a local nature conservation authority?
Start a nature conservation project?
I would like another section on iNaturalist besides taxa:
“Environmental hazards”… 
Given the resistance of shooters to switch from lead (for their own health, as they eat the lead contaminated meat!), I think it will be a long, long time before fishing lead is banned. It should however be cheaper to switch fishing materials, since you don’t intend to lose a sinker every time you use it, in comparison with lead shot, which is by its essence, a single use product.
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Collect the sinkers, properly store/dispose of them.
Talk to fisherman there about the issue, or your friends who fish to spread awareness.
In many parts of the USA leaving monofilament line in nature used to be a bigger problem, but with signage at fishing spots and places to properly dispose, it has become less of an issue.
There are many who simply aren’t aware, and letting them know can make the difference of 1 more lead being lost to the sea.
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Here those were installed, filled up, and were removed, never to be seen again, monofilament line is still a problem here. I loved having a line disposal right at the fishing spot
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sounds like an issue with the local jurisdiction, sending them and email might help
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As kids we used to use old iron nuts (the kind that screw on a bolt), as fishing sinkers. Might have to revive the tradition.
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Purpose made steel sinkers are better for not scratching/breaking your line
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The question hunters would have is how quickly lead would actually contaminate the meat. If I shoot a deer with lead, retrieve and process the meat, how much lead toxin would be in that meat?
I think the environmental impact is greater with the fishing industry although lead needs to be removed from both “sports”.
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When the bullet hits a bone in the deer the bullet can break apart on impact, scattering lead particles into the meat. The issue is not leaching of chemicals from one solid bullet, but the pulverization of the bullet on impact with bone at speeds that may be well over mach 2
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Good thing we check the meat during processing…
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Are you able to catch every small fragment?
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Lead is an ideal metal for fishing sinkers and ammunition because of its high density, low melting point, and low cost. Other options are some combination of more expensive, less versatile, etc. so there’s understandable resistance to changing (on top of the default human tendency to be resistant to change in general).
But yeah it can be really bad - something like >40% of loons in New England lakes die of lead poisoning in studies, it’s been a huge obstacle for the California Condor reintroduction, kills Bald Eagles feeding on deer guts that hunters leave behind…
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I, personally archery hunt with a crossbow. Before disabling, I used a compound bow. My body cannot handle the shock or sound of gunfire.
When gun hunting, my companions’ shots are aimed to pass through the chest cavity. Very few, even not as well placed shots, have hit bone.
It is something to be considered, especially for those who let others process the meat.
(I have experienced more shot left in meat of birds, especially pheasant. We don’t hunt birds, these were meals at which I was a guest.)
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The research on this is very persuasive that most meat hunted with lead ammunition is contaminated enough to cause human health impacts, even with processing to remove large pieces of ammunition. There are a variety of studies showing this, including:
- blood samples from humans who regularly eat game meat who’ve consistently shown higher blood lead levels than those in the same communities who do not across multiple continents
- feeding carcasses of game animals shot with lead to pigs (as a proxy for humans, since feeding lead shot game to humans when we suspect it to be toxic is unethical…) and finding elevated blood lead in the pigs.
- Using xrays to show that small fragments of lead shot are dispersed throughout game animals shot with lead ammo - much to small to be detected/removed by humans. I believe that the recommendation was that no meat should be harvested from a carcass within 30 cm of the wound to avoid lead particles.
- Epidemiological studies showing that something that 15% of children in families that regularly eat game in England have elevated blood levels high enough to lead to the loss of at least 1 IQ point, affecting their future earnings potential and quality of life. (one source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691512006126 though I don’t have them all).
In short: People shouldn’t directly inject a toxic substance into their food before eating it (especially one that we literally have some of the most most comprehensive evidence for awful health effects). As many researchers and doctors have noted: there is no safe consumption level for lead.
NB: I am not against hunting or fishing, just people poisoning themselves.
NB: Apart from the humans, any carcasses that they leave behind cause the same types of lead poisoning (or worse) in scavengers who don’t have the ability to even avoid the large chunks…
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I read an article today from Planet Detroit on research done testing Robins for lead, yes positive. The lead in the water and lead lined pipes for irrigation is a major problem.
The lead is in the ground we grow our food, where we walk the pets, where our children play. In toxic levels.
https://apple.news/A-Hq1_I5hQk6sOjQ7sWilAA
Scary world.
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I don’t have experience with shooting deer as you might in the US, but in the UK the main activity is shooting small birds with lead shot, so by its nature it’s very difficult to remove all the many small pieces. And yet there is incredible resistance to change, so far the only progress made in the UK has been in shooting over wetlands.
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It’s going to be slow because changing other peoples’ minds is close to impossible.
Having power to change the industry and enforcing change is difficult.
Clean up is another huge issue.
I can see the problems but I have no idea for fixing any of it.
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Some Toys were made of lead. There is/was lead in cheap jewelry.
Shouldn’t admit to this but I thought mercury was the coolest substance ever…
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It is, in a bottle in a lab.
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