Debris on Meredith Bay
 

Hey all,

So I've been a resident of the lakes region my entire life (Gilford, Laconia, Holderness, and now on Meredith Bay), and this year I'm seeing some of the worst debris issues I have ever seen. We walked the path around Hesky Park this evening and recovered what we could to help out the town, but there's still so much on the ice itself and floating out of reach. Hopefully we can get out there in our canoe soon and recover other bits of small debris. It's sad to see pieces of bobhouses, wood pallets, plastic bottles, and ropes just floating around. The neighbors mentioned there were (!!!) dump trucks (!!!) full of debris removed from the ice in the area a few weeks back when people could get on the ice to remove stuff. I wish people who came to enjoy the frozen bay in the winter months would pay more attention to what they're leaving behind. :( :mad: I love that there is tourism in the winter and it's great to see people coming together for the pond hockey, fishing derby, etc...but I wish there was a way for stricter penalties to be implemented to those who forget they're leaving this garbage on our lake!!! Sorry for the rant, but it's just disheartening...

http://i67.tinypic.com/2prwpic.jpg

http://i64.tinypic.com/qsaa7d.jpg

http://i63.tinypic.com/do9a3a.jpg

It's shameful. I could never understand why someone would come to a place because of its beauty and then leave their trash. It's not just tourists of course, I don't live there and wouldn't think of littering. But sadly, some folks are careless or lazy and don't have respect for the environment. Nice of you to help clean some of it up.

Wonder what the lake bottom looks like in the bay. Years ago a friend of mine who dives told me he saw several piles with literally hundreds of cans and bottles that were sent to the bottom in the area that is used for ice fishing.

Here is the thread that discusses the dump trucks full of debris.

https://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums...hlight=outrage

That is exactly what i was thinking, Sam! What a mess the bottom of the lake must be!

Littering on the Lake
 

It is unconscionable that people would leave their trash like that. The environment is already under siege, and if people just took personal responsibility, it could go a long way to improving the situation.

It is always interesting to me that towns/state can worry about enforcing no wake zones (important), speeds (also important), but turn a blind eye to a policy for reducing litter.

Is the fishing derby worth the mess and degrading of the lake ?

While this has been discussed previously in another thread, I still can't relate to the "toss it and leave it" attitude regardless of if the lake is frozen or not.

I was trained at a young age to pick things we found floating out of the lake, I guess we can hope that there are more of us with that attitude than the opposite. (I do think that's the case for the record.) Those pictures are hard to take, there's no excuse for that.

What's wrong with this picture?
 

If one moves a rock on the shoreline, cuts down too many trees, or removes one too many pine needles from one's own property (for which one pays substantial property taxes), the State of NH will be all over you like a ton of bricks. All under the auspices of protecting the lake, which is State property and a State resource.

On the contrary, the same State of NH allows the same property and resource to be abused and destroyed by these idiots that leave all this debris and litter behind, and just ignores this problem? This is an outrage! Furthermore, these morons that leave all of this debris behind more than likely do not own waterfront property on the lake, and thus are not paying property taxes on such.

Oh, but what the heck...let's just hire more marine patrol to stalk and fine the family in the pontoon boat that's out trying to enjoy the lake, rather than address a real problem that's causing severe damage. Wait, where have I heard this before??

I saw that too, last weekend. Apparently the fishermen with bob houses in that location are a bunch of tools, no other explanation in my opinion.

So....
 

What do we do about it!

Posting complaints here is only the beginning, not the end of the solution.

Ice fisherman tend to be the worst offenders. Yes. Some are good but in general the average ice fisherman has no problem dumping their debris on the ice down their holes etc. I for one would like to see canning instituted in the states. It has done wonders for Singapore! A couple cracks across your a55 and that solves the problem for life!!

Please see my post above. This would solve the problem in a year or two but it will never happen in the US. Too bad.

Inspiration for a good name...
 

Your post gave me a good idea: we can first start by labeling these people "Ice-Holes" (and if they're from Massachusetts, we can call them "Mice-Holes") ! :laugh:

.....oh well....today, there's two paddlers out there in a canoe....in the fog and rain......who are picking up the left-over, winter, ice lumber and trash debris from what's left of the ice that's been turning into slush ....so, good for them!

Trash
 

I for one, would like to see a no alcohol rule...seems to be the root cause of a lot of these problems..let's drag a 30 pac ( 3 times a day) out to our bob house, and drink it all, and throw it down the ice hole. or just throw the empties around..then we'll torch stuff, cause we're in a frisky mood, and then we'll leave it all behind (x's 30 bob houses or so) Yup, sounds like a good time...friggin "iceholes"...

User Fee
 

I am not a fan of added fees and taxes, but this seems like a situation where tax dollars are being used to clean up a mess created by a few. So with that in mind, perhaps the State should institute a user fee much like the State owned campgrounds. I pay to use the land and carry in/out everything (usually more).

Charge $x.xx for each bob house placed on the lake and require a registration sticker. Include the lake and/or bay area where the bob house will be placed (IE: Winni/Meredith Bay, Newfound Lake etc). Use those funds to hire contractors to clear the lake of debris near the end of the fishing season.

That would not clear the entire lake as seen in these photos as I am sure the bob house owners were not able to clear the pallets due to them being frozen into the lake, but is may go a long way in getting some of the other debris removed before ice-out.

I fear that charging an extra fee would give rise to the feeling that they can go ahead and leave stuff out on the ice, that the extra fee paid entitles them to do so.

What the extra fee should come with is a sheet saying that the state expects you, the licensee, to remove everything brought out onto the ice, including anything frozen into the ice. Bring tools for removal of same. Failure to remove stuff means the state will remove it, then come after you, and the cost assessed to you will be far more than the "fair" cost for the state to remove what you leave. The well-behaved ice fishing folks won't have a problem complying. The few problem ones had better be paying attention.

Bay Cleanup
 

The members of the Meredith Rotary Club will be doing Bay cleanup on Saturday June 3. If anyone would like to join us (and several folks from Facebook have signed on) we would welcome a helping hand. We need folks with boats, long poles with hooks, trash bags, divers.... don't know the exact details yet but will post when dust settles.

Another Option...
 

Another option is to change the deadline for things to be taken off the ice. The lake doesn't freeze like it used to. :(

Bottom line, with NO excuses, if you bring it on the ice, take it off when you leave. Worried about the ice house freezing to the lake? Put it up up flat stones. If you don't get them up when you pull the lake house, no problem. Ice melts and stones go glub, glub, glub to the bottom. No mess, no debris.

Sent from my GT-P5210 using Winnipesaukee Forum mobile app

Great idea actually....local ordinance to use stone only for shimming would solve the problem

Good thinking but using stones for bob house support would be disastrous as the stones would absorb heat from the sun and melt the ice around them much more rapidly than wood blocks...then you would have many more house's runners frozen into the ice.
Also, some debris (one can be seen in the 1st photo) consists of the 2x4 anchors with the rope attached that reside under the ice to hold the house in place...if these are not retrieved by the house owner (and many are not due the work involved/laziness of the owner) they will constitute the majority (lake wide) of debris that ends up on a wayward shore.
Bottom line is either the bob house owner is caring/conscientious enough to dilligently, remove all of his stuff or not.
We all know that stupidity/conscientiousness cannot be legislated or forced in any situation. This is a problem that will always be present no matter what laws or fines are created...it's always going to be a cleanup effort after the fact by caring/conscientious, individuals and groups who step up for the greater good.
Meredith bay derby and other activities there, are why the problem is magnified in this particular location.

I call bs on the debris being iced in. Most of what I saw was on top and I'm thinking chiseling a few boards out of the ice might take half an hour. These people just don't care.

On top, underneath...it all ends up on the same plane as the ice melts...
Yes, chiseling out the boards is easy...never said it wasn't...just pure, human laziness is the root cause and always will be. Very easy to walk away from your mess when no one is looking...that's the difference between being ethical or not.

I wasn't criticizing you Hillcountry, you make great points. This is pure laziness and it ticks me off.

Tragedy of the Commons
 

The tragedy of the commons is an economic problem in which every individual tries to reap the greatest benefit from a given resource. As the demand for the resource overwhelms the supply, every individual who consumes an additional unit directly harms others who can no longer enjoy the benefits.