A few random thoughts...

A few years ago at the AK Fly Fishers' Kenai River Clean Up a friend and I worked the area right at the mouth of the Russian River, dumping into the Kenai. In a couple hours we picked upa quite a bit of trash. However, we also picked up sinkers when we found them. These were everything from small split shot to honking 1 ounce rubber cores! We picked up over 60 POUNDS of lead in a couple hours on a stretch of beach no more than about 500 yards.

The following year we did not pick up 5 in the same place doing the same thing... the next year we found even less... and so on...

The old 85 triple 5 is an interesting thing because the less noble lead is going to go away MUCH faster than the more noble copper??? Not so much! The far less noble copper is going to go far before the lead or nickle... the tin will go first but the copper will be leaving early also...

Copper is not good for any living organism.