NEW BRIGHTON — The fishing at New Brighton’s Fishing Park has always been exceptional.

The dam there adds oxygen to the water, which makes the environment conducive to fish and plentiful fish make it conducive to area anglers.

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It’s rare that the reclaimed site of the original New Brighton water plant doesn’t have at least a handful of fishermen and on weekends even more.

The joy of fishing isn’t just the catching; it’s getting the line wet and enjoying the outdoors. One of the biggest headaches for any angler, though, is what to do with old fishing line.

Monofilament plastic line is fine enough that fish can’t see it, but it’s difficult to handle with wet hands and line has a tendency to tangle beyond the ability of most humans to untangle it.

Optimistic estimates are that monofilament fishing line takes 500 years to degrade in the environment and is dangerous to fish, birds, swimmers and boat propellers. Plus, it isn’t accepted in most household recycling bins.

Thanks to the Beaver County Conservation District, fishing line can be recycled locally. A receptacle at the New Brighton Fishing Park was installed Wednesday.

“We have a grant to do six as a start,” said Marty Warchol, district Watershed Specialist. “We’ll have two at Bradys Run (Park), one at the launch and one at the handicap area, one at Brush Creek, the one here at New Brighton and the last two sites are still waiting for final permission.

“The initial six bins are on a grant from the Boat USA Foundation and we’re looking at the possibility of getting more.”

Fishing line placed in the bins will be collected and forwarded to Berkley, a major fishing line manufacturer. Berkley Conservation will turn the used line into structures that can be used to enhance fish habitat.

There are no stated goals for the program. But if anglers pull old, tangled reels they thought were beyond value, the program could get quite a jump start.