The Australian Marine Debris Initiative is a network of communities, schools, industries, government agencies and individuals focused on reducing the amount of marine debris washing into our oceans.
On every beach around Australia you will find some form of marine debris, from litter left by visitors to international debris, to ghost nets or rubbish washed from far inland through stormwater drains.
The statistics are horrifying with the United Nationals' Regional Seas Program estimating more than 18,000 pieces of plastic in each square kilometre of ocean; and other research estimating more than 8 million tonnes of debris entering the world's oceans each year. The majority of this marine debris is plastic, which due to its chemical makeup is a long lasting material. Plastics, once released into the environment, never biodegrade, instead photodegrading breaking into smaller and smaller pieces of the original item, forever remaining in the environment.
The Australian Marine Debris Initiative is a way that everyone can become involved in both the removal of marine debris and finding solutions to stop the flow of rubbish into our oceans.
This year’s WA Beach Clean-up saw over 80 groups adopt a coastal or estuarine site across the State, engaging 783 volunteers in local action. The clean-ups ranged from small one-person clean-ups to big ones like the 70 awesome people who took part in the South Beach clean-up, pictured above.
Tangaroa Blue and AMDI partners are so very close to removing and identifying a staggering 17 million items of litter from oceans and waterways around Australia through community clean-ups over the last 16 years, and we couldn’t have done it without you all!
Read more “17 Million Pieces – A Tribute to Heidi and all of YOU!”
Eurobodalla Shire Council Media Release
Sparing Snapper’s penguins from snaring plastics
Marine debris is a worldwide problem, with street litter washing into gutters and drains to pollute rivers and oceans. Closer to home, rubbish in the Clyde estuary is posing entanglement risks to the little penguins that live there.
Read more “Sparing Snapper’s penguins from snaring plastics”
Members and their guests are invited to attend to catch up on all the news from the last 12 months and give input for the future!
The 2019 WA Beach Clean-up marked the 15th year of this special event in the Tangaroa Blue Foundation calendar, with support from Keep Australia Beautiful WA. Hundreds of people from across the community spent over 2,638 volunteer hours participating, from dedicated environmental groups to workplace teams, businesses, and groups of families and friends.
Since 2004, on and around the middle weekend of October, beaches, estuaries and coastal areas across Western Australia have been cleaned up and vital data entered into the Australian Marine Debris Database to contribute to understanding, monitoring, and managing marine debris. In 2019, beaches from the Anjo Peninsula Beach, Mungalalu in the north of the state to Kanidal Beach near Cocklebiddy on the southeast coast; to wild coastal tracks and easy to access metropolitan beaches were included in the project.
Tangaroa Blue Foundation (TBF) encourages a whole-of-landscape approach for addressing the marine debris issue. Different regions have different sources of debris and therefore different approaches to management will be appropriate. This year, data has been categorised according to land or sea sources for beaches that are either near to or far from built-up areas and for inhabited and uninhabited islands. By considering the litter and waste processes occurring across the whole landscape, more effective strategies can be developed.
For more information, download and read the full report.
