A lot of guys I know have shopping bags in their vest and pick up whatever garbage they see, before they leave the flow. One thing they have in common is they all do it quietly, and they do not boast.
That is great and we know many do that. By doing so it helps set an example to others when they see it being done but there is still too much garbage, line etc. left around that ends up drifting down river to the Fraser and out to the ocean during high water events.
We and other volunteers cleaned up from Keith Wilson Bridge yesterday and it was clean as a whistle by noon. I went down last night and picked up a half a garbage bag that had been discarded since then. In a few days it will be littered again. It is not about boasting, it is just getting the job done and trying to make a difference.
Some stats the CVRCS has kept since 2002, coming up to yesterday's cleanup there has been 44 cleanups on the Chilliwack Vedder River watershed, 16 BC River Days, 110 Metric Tonnes of garbage collected and 28,000 plus volunteer hours put in. Factor in the hours the ones you mention there would be a lot more hours put in and garbage collected.
I hope those reading this will take your excellent suggestion and take a bag of garbage out with them after fishing. Who knows one day we will not have to organize cleanups and we can just go fishing, which I think I will this morning and I will be picking up some garbage at the same time.
Thanks again for your post