Snagged in the water

By Mark Squibb

A St. John’s woman who says she got entangled in a fishing line while swimming at Topsail Beach last week is dismayed at how difficult it’s been to find someone willing to remove the hazard.
“I was out swimming, and felt something around my leg,” said Sylvia Rees. “And it wasn’t seaweed, it felt different than seaweed. Now, I’m not a person to panic. I’m very comfortable in the water, so I took it off from my foot and discovered it was a fishing line.”
Rees was only about 12 feet from the shore when she got entangled in the fishing line. She was able to cut a piece of the line but had to leave the majority of it behind.
“So, I went home, and started to try and call people,” said Rees. “And I really couldn’t get a hold of someone.”
Between Sunday evening and Monday afternoon, Rees said she phoned the police, the coast guard, the federal Department of Fisheries, and the Town of CBS.
By Tuesday, Rees said, she still had had no luck finding someone who could remove the line, and so she called the Department of Fisheries once again. This time around, a lady at the department told her she could either find a community service group or hire a local diver to re-trieve the line.
And so, she called local tour company Ocean Quest, which sent a diver to fetch the line at no cost. Within two hours the line was extracted.
“There needs to be a place you can call regarding these ocean issues near the shore,” said Rees.
She said the problem is likely not one isolated to Topsail beach, though she added the hugely popular park is busy enough to warrant a lifeguard.
A less experienced swimmer, said Rees, may have panicked and may even have drowned.
“Being in the water and taking off the fishing line wasn’t terrifying,” said Rees. “But it’s terrifying knowing that someone could have been hurt and I couldn’t get something done about it. That was the terrifying part.”