Join ReefClean’s 2020 Great Barrier Reef Clean-up

This October marks the start of our month-long series of events that focus on looking after our Reef. Tangaroa Blue Foundation, through the ReefClean Project, is calling on citizen scientists, schools, community groups, local governments, and all ocean lovers to participate in the GBR Clean-up. Six launch events will be held across the region on the following dates & locations:

• Alva Beach, Alva. Saturday, 3/10/2020
• Harbour Beach, Mackay, 3/10/2020
• Hinchinbrook Island, 8-11/10/2020
• Farnborough Beach, Yeppoon, 10/10/2020
• Moa Island, Torres Strait, 22-23/10/2020
• Innes Park, 24/10/2020

 To volunteer at a Flagship location, please click here.

The program also invites groups to adopt and register their own coastal or waterway sites to be cleaned throughout the month, so if you know of a site in your area that needs attention, we encourage you to register that site and get a group together.

Click here to register your own site.

ReefClean is funded by the Australian Government’s Reef Trust and delivered by Tangaroa Blue Foundation in partnership with AUSMAP, Capricornia Catchments, Eco Barge Clean Seas, OceanWatch Australia, Reef Check Australia, and South Cape York Catchments.

Join the Great Barrier Reef Clean-up today!

Counting on Change – A poem by Renee Flis

‘Counting on change’
A poem by Renee Flis, Chilli Beach Volunteer, August 2020

A call to arms and we join the fight
gather our weapons and do what’s right
gloves! bags! water! sunscreen!
hurry up now! we’ve got a beach to clean!

It feels like folly
running this race we can’t win
ignorance is bliss
after it’s gone in the bin

Read more “Counting on Change – A poem by Renee Flis”

Chilli Beach 2020: Success!

From the 10th-18th of August a small crew of Tangaroa Blue volunteers and staff drove up to Chilli Beach, in Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park (CYPAL), for our 9th annual clean-up at this site.

As always, we were joined by QPWS and Kuuku Ya’u Land Trust Rangers, Lockhart River State School students and teachers, members of the Queensland Border Force Weipa division and community members and campers. Every year we are so grateful for the support of the community and have a great time cleaning up the beach together! Read more “Chilli Beach 2020: Success!”

ReefClean Source Reduction Plan Workshop results are in

Through data collected in the Australian Marine Debris Initiative Database (AMDI) from local clean-ups, several items have been identified as marine debris repeat offenders along the Great Barrier Reef. From May to June of 2020, Tangaroa Blue held a series of five workshops to tackle some of these items.

The workshops were held as virtual workshops, in response to Covid-19 restrictions. In spite of the physical restrictions that all Australians were observing at the time, the workshops enabled individuals and communities to engage with all likely stakeholders and partners to create a strategy that would prevent this litter from entering the environment. Read more “ReefClean Source Reduction Plan Workshop results are in”

Turtle Islands Clean-up

Six people, 5 islands and 800kg of debris in just 2 days!

COVID-19 restrictions have meant that we have not been able to run some of our regular dry season clean-up activities in Cape York. Instead, as general restrictions have eased, we took a small dedicated team of volunteers up to the islands of the Turtle Group National Park in the northern Great Barrier Reef. These islands are small and made of deep coral rubble, which made walking around quite challenging.

Read more “Turtle Islands Clean-up”