Deer Island students repurpose old, worn-out fishing gear into mats

Students on Deer Island are coming up with ways to repurpose old fishing gear washing in from the ocean.

Brent Anderson, a teacher at Deer Island Middle School, has been challenging his students for the past six weeks to make something useful out of old fishing rope.

They're doing this by fashioning the rope into mats, which they later sell to people on the island for their homes and cottages.

"We can look at a real world issue and a problem within our community and we can make a difference," Anderson said in an interview with Information Morning Saint John.

Deer Island, one of the islands in the Bay of Fundy, is known for lobster fishing. But when fishing gear like rope starts to wear out, it can end up on beaches, landfills or left to rot on the ground.

• More than 3 tonnes of rope collected in wharf recycling bins

"It's amazing the amount of things that are just left in the ocean and lost due to high tides and windy conditions," Anderson said.

Old rope still useful

So far students have used more than 3,040 metresof rope.

Mats made out of old fishing rope can often be found in stores across Atlantic Canada and New England states.

"As soon as one person is done with a product or a material, then it's not wasteful, we can turn it into something different," Anderson said.

Many middle school students on Deer Island were drawn to the project, including Keaton Lord.

He puts the mats together over recess or during his lunch hour. He enjoys working on the project, while also helping the environment.

"I learned you can do stuff with old materials, and you don't have to waste it into the ocean," the Grade 8 student said.

How mats are made

Students have to untangle the rope beforemakingthe mat. Then the ropecan be wrappedaround an old loom or pipes, where it'sweaved back and forth.

"Then you get a mat format and the piping will be hollow, so you can put the rope down through it," said Lord.

• What are you at? Weaving old fishing ropes into mats

Then you cut the rope with a fishing clamp.

Lord said ittakes about five minutes to make a mat.

Some of the matscome in bright colours.

"There's lots of different oranges and blues and reds and they turned out really well," said Anderson.

Students will be selling the homemade mats at a silent auction at the school on May 22 and 23.

Money students receive from the project will go toward the Fundy North Fishermen's Association's Ghost Gear Fund, a project that collects and repurposes old fishing gear.

According to the association, the project repurposedalmost 270,000 metres of ropeand at least9,018 pounds of rope from April2018 to March 2019 in lobster fishing area 36.

That area represents fishermen from Alma to St. Stephen and includes Deer Island and Campobello Island.