The Year 6 student decided to make it her mission to clean up for the Hastings after she discovered mass amounts of discarded fishing line. 

“When I found out how bad forgotten fishing line can be for the animals I wanted to become a voice for them,” she said. 

“Lots of people talk about how bad plastic is for the environment, but what many people may not know is that it can take up to 600 years for fishing line to decompose in the environment.

“What people may also not know is that it is really easy for people to properly get rid of the fishing line.”

Shalise said there has been a dramatic reduction in fishing line left in the water since the installation of two Seal the Loop fishing line collection bins in Lake Cathie, 

“I empty the fishing line bins every week and on average I collect three or four handfuls of fishing line each time,” she said. 

“This also means that when I check the shore lines there is less and less fishing line I can see which is really awesome.”

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Shalise said when people ask her what she is doing, or when she tells people about the dangers of fishing line for marine animals they are often surprised.

“I don’t think a lot of people understand how much damage one little piece of fishing line left behind in the water can do, but since the bins were installed it is also teaching people there is a good place to put them,” she said. 

Shalise has also started an Instagram page @shalisesoceansupport where she documents her trips to collect the fishing line in the bins. 

“I have recently started an Instagram page so that I can share with people all over the world the importance of not throwing fishing line into the ocean and it has been really great connecting with people everywhere,” she said. 

“I post blog videos of me collecting the fishing line as well pictures of the things that I collect in the bins.”

Shalise hopes that in 2018 more bins will be put at different places in the Camden Haven.

“Young people need to stand up and make a difference as we are the next generation of leaders, so this year I hope that we can get a few more bins installed in other places,” she said.