Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (17)
Viewers also liked
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
The Cleanup
- 1. South–West Marine Debris Cleanup
- 2. HOBART
- 14. 0 10000 20000 30000 40000 50000 60000 70000 80000 90000 2001 2003 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 ANNUAL ITEMS COLLECTED 2001-2015
- 16. Statistics for Australian Coastline/Plastic •150 million items of rubbish littering the Australian Coastline •3.2 items of rubbish for every square metre of beach •4256 items per square km of ocean •20% of plastic marine debris come from marine sources •80% washed into the sea from land •Every decade plastic production doubles Source: CSIRO - Reisser et al 2013
- 19. Beercan Bay 2121 Cans in 5 visits
- 22. Recyclable items 2001-2014 3434 Cans 2318 Beverage bottles 1094 Water bottles 2191 Cleaner bottles 1164 Food containers 8612 Caps and lids 2116 Glass Bottles and Jars
Editor's Notes
- Cleaning up the wild west
- The South West Marine Debris Cleanup has been running since the late 1990’s. I with the help of Dave Wyatt and the good ship Velocity have coordinated the trips since 1999. The cleanup returns every time to a part of the South West World Heritage Area that has no established tracks. This lack of foot traffic ensures that we are collecting everything that has been washed up on the beaches since our last visit. Only the generosity of the Fishermen have enabled us to continue this monitoring and educational effort. We are the only people currently actively cleaning this coastline on a regular basis.
- This South-West corner of Tasmania is home to some of the most beautiful and dangerous coastlines anywhere on the planet. As part of the South West World Heritage Area its pristine beauty will be protected in perpetuity and we are doing what we can to maintain that beauty. This coastline contains numerous surf breaks which are regularly surfed by a very few crayfishermen and abalone divers. Here local knowledge is the key and the skipper of the Velocity has surfed here more than anyone else on the planet. National Parks has asked us not to publish maps or identify the names of the places we visit so they may remain untouched and wild. At present it remains one of the least visited parts of Tasmania and we hope to keep it that way.
- Dave Wyatt has been fishing and surfing this coastline for the last 20+ years. He has been instrumental in the success of the rubbish cleanup his generosity, local knowledge, seamanship and beach landing ability has enabled us to access the beaches and the waves for the last 15 years. His ship the Velocity is a 53 foot Westcoaster and is an ideal mother ship for the cleanup. It has ample flat deck space and protection from the elements along with accommodation for up to 8 people. The boat does charter work for surfers, the Marine Conservation Branch, the Mark Webber Challenge, Game fishermen and anyone else who wants to explore the SW coast. The usual charter rate is $3500 per day. In the past I have worked 15 or 20 pots for the duration of the trip to cover costs and get a wage for Dave, these days we get a good guys discount. At full charter rates we would have to pay over $80000 just for the 4 boats for a week
- Those prone to seasickness need not apply
- We aim to remove the rubbish and cover the beach in footprints which is the only thing we leave behind
- There are many cultural and historical sites on the part of the coast that we visit. This is the wreck of the Svenor in 2008 which is on one of our regular beaches.
- This is the Svenor in 2014
- One of the dirty beaches on the coast. It takes a team of twenty volunteers all day to clean this 200 meter stretch of coast
- Typical west facing beach blowout. Common to see lots of glass bottles from all over the world in these blowouts. We removed 27000 items of this beach in two days.
- Bait box straps. We are lobbying the bait manufacturers to remove these from the bait production cycle. We have picked up over 10000 of these over the life of the project.
- A typical tally sheet from a days work. It takes between 1 and 4 hours to count and sort the rubbish at the end of each day
- Data from a CSIRO study looking at plastic pieces in the ocean. Note the big red blob adjacent to south west Tasmania
- More and more rubbish but we are getting better at collecting it 150 million items of rubbish littering the Australian Coastline 3.2 items of rubbish for every metre of beach Every decade plastic production doubles 20% of plastic marine debris come from marine sources 80% washed into the sea from land
- Sorting rubbish. Coke, water and other beverage bottles are very common
- The bottle bag
- The waves on this part of the coast are generally reefs and points with the occasional sheltered beach breaks which are only surfable on lower swells. This break is well inside Port Davey just outside one of the better anchorages on the coast. We usually stop here on the way around the coast to allow those suffering from sea sickness some respite. This anchorage has one of the highest concentrations of small plastic debris on the coast and the beach usually takes a full days work to clean.
- Beercan Bay – Consistent beer cans litter this beach 100% local
- The likely culprits at Beercan Bay
- We picked up around 82000 items on the 2016 cleanup. The dirty dozen keeps tabs on the most common items.
- Stats Beverage bottles, water bottles and caps and lids all trending up
- A CDL will boost our aim to target the sources of local rubbish that can be removed from the fishing cycle which includes bait straps and bait and ice bags
- Micro plastics which are becoming more and more prevelant
- This Shy Albatross is endemic to Tasmania and they commonly ingest plastics, this is one of the many species of marine creatures that is impacted by marine debris
- Plastic is the problem