The Citizen Magnet Fishers will be back in Westbrook this season, looking forward to some collaboration with the city on cleanups and hoping to attract new volunteers.
Magnet fisher Colt Busch shows off a bike he pulled from the Presumpscot in Westbrook last year. Chance Viles / American Journal
The group, made up of magnet fishing hobbyists from throughout southern Maine, will focus on fishing for the remaining, discarded metal to be found in the Presumpscot River near the Black Bridge off Brown Street. That’s the area they concentrated on last year, too.
“For us the major thing is the idea that kids swim there, and the last thing I want is for a kid to get hurt or cut their foot on rusty metal,” said unofficial group leader Colt Busch of Lewiston.
Magnet fishers use large magnets to haul up metal debris from riverbeds or other bodies of water. They do it to find odd things and have a little fun, but they say cleaning up waterways is one of the most important motivators.
Citizen Magnet Fishers pulled roughly 25,000 pounds of scrap metal from waterways around Maine last year, Busch said. Some of that weight comes from a common catch, abandoned bicycles. Of the 70 bikes reeled in last year, 50 were in Westbrook, with the majority of those coming from the water below Black Bridge.
“We continue to support the good work they are doing,” Mayor Mike Foley said.
While the city lacks the staff to attend Citizen Magnet Fishers’ cleanups, Foley said he hopes to perhaps rally residents and businesses to pitch in.
Busch said he hopes to get private businesses involved, to supply the use of dumpsters for the trash the group pulls up, for example, or to provide machinery to help move big logs in the river that can hinder the removal of metal.
And volunteers are always welcome to join in the cleanups, he said.
“People can come and join us. Sometimes people see what we are doing and stop by, but we can show people who haven’t done it before,” Busch said.
To learn more, reach out to Colt Busch on Facebook or visit the “Citizen Magnet Fishing” Facebook page, where the group posts information about upcoming magnet fishing trips.
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