The countdown to the 9th annual West Australian Beach Clean Up is well and truly on. Registrations are rolling in from around the state, one from as far afield as the Cocos Islands off the WA coast. The event will be held over the weekend of October 12 & 13 and anyone interested in taking part is asked to contact the Event Coordinator Renee Mouritz at renee@tangaroablue.org or 0437511620 for further information.
Data collected during the clean ups helps build a bigger picture of the marine debris issue around Western Australia and the data can be used by community, government and industry to find practical ways of stopping marine debris from entering our waterways in the first place.
How you can help out: Volunteers are invited to register as an individual or as a group and nominate a beach or stretch of coastline they will clean up over the clean up weekend. All materials, volunteer insurance and logistical support will be provided, all we need is lots of energy and many hands to help remove marine debris from the coast.
Each year this event sees the WA coastline scoured for marine debris, amongst all the rubbish collected are always some unusual and interesting finds such as bottles and plastic containers with foreign language labels, indicating that they have floated vast distances to wash up on our shores, or maybe they were tossed, or lost overboard off a passing ship or vessel.
Two years ago the most unusual item found during the WA Beach Clean Up was an ice hockey stick washed up at Moses Rock on the Capes coast. Last year it was a toss up between the umbilical cord clamp picked up at 3 Bears, Yallingup, a cache of unopened steel Emu Export beer cans dating back at least 30 years found in the dunes at Yanchep and a bus stop sign complete with concrete base that was found on the beach at Yanchep too. What will this year’s WA Beach Clean Up bring? Tangaroa Blue is offering prizes for the three most unusual items found during the clean up. 1st prize will be an Tangaroa Blue/AMDI T-shirt, 2nd prize will be a Tangaroa Blue stainless steel water bottle and 3rd prize, a Tangaroa Blue cap. So sign up as a volunteer and get out there and find yourself an unusual bit of marine debris as part of the WA Beach Clean Up.
This year we are hoping to clean up as much of the Western Australian coastline as possible. It’s a pretty ambitious goal but with the help of everyone out there we truly can make this the biggest and best WA Beach Clean Up yet!
The 2013 WA Beach Clean Up is proudly sponsored by Tangaroa Blue Foundation, Coastwest, Keep Australia Beautiful Council WA, South West Catchments Council, WA Department of Fisheries, Department of Parks and Wildlife and local government authorities around the state.
Published by