Don’t Dump on Our Reef

The team at Tangaroa Blue Foundation have set out to educate the public about the harmful environmental effects of dog waste and propose methods of green disposal in order to further reduce the environmental impact associated with pet ownership.

Many dog owners see their pets’ waste as a natural product, which leads to a large number of dog owners leaving their dog waste to degrade in the environment. Despite this statement being of truth, dog waste does contain a large number of pathogens and nutrients. The environment is able to break down these pathogens and nutrients up to a certain load, however current statistics from the Australian census demonstrate that a large number of dogs are registered within suburban areas and that numbers are on the rise (with an increase just shy of 1 million from 2013 to 2019). This has led to an increased load of waste produced within a smaller area, surpassing the environmental threshold for natural waste management.

The pathogens found in dog waste can be toxic to humans, with many parasites and infections readily transferable to the human body (for example; Salmonella, Campylobacteriosis, Cryptosporidiosis, Toxocariasis, Hookworm infection, Echinococcosis (caused by tapeworms) and Giardia). Not to mention your beloved pets’ wandering nose could also readily pick up any of these harmful parasites and infections from any dog waste left behind by previous owners, or even worse your dog waste could infect somebody else’s beloved pet! In regards to an increased nutrient load within the environment, this can directly impact the quality of neighbouring water bodies within the catchment area leading to excessive weed or algae growth.

For those dog owners that do pick up their pets’ waste, many use plastic products to do so. This in turn creates another debris item, and often is not disposed of correctly. When considering green methods of disposable it is important to understand what the doggy bag is made of (for example avoid items containing petrochemicals and instead use items made of cornstarch).

The team at Tangaroa Blue Foundation not only wanted to highlight the negative environmental impacts that dog waste has, but also provide responsible pet owners with a green solution on how to dispose of it. For more information click here to view our double-sided factsheet.

In an attempt to make the conversation of dog poop a little more fun, an interactive personality quiz based on association was drafted to determine “What Kind of Dog Owner Are you?”. The personality types for the quiz were based according to a scientifically credited psychology paper, which states there are 5 types of dog owners in regards to how they approach the situation of their dog’s waste (Lowe, CN et al., 2014). A graphic design company, 55 Knots, generously donated their time to create caricatures depicting each of the 5 types of personalities based on the following descriptions. The team at Tangaroa Blue Foundation would like to thank the team at 55 knots for their generosity and excellent work.

Find out what type of dog owner you are by taking this short quiz: https://www.opinionstage.com/kara-mae/what-kind-of-dog-owner-are-you-

For a breakdown of the types of dog owners follow this link:

What Kind of Dog Owner are you? – Tangaroa Blue

All aboard the SV Whitehaven.

As part of a collaborative venture between Tangaroa Blue Foundation, Reef Catchments and Reef Check Australia students embarked on a journey of a lifetime known as the Marine Classroom. Students jumped aboard the SV Whitehaven and headed out to the spectacular Mackay Islands to learn about the impacts of marine debris, weeding and pest management, and reef monitoring methodologies.

Over the course of 2021 there were two scheduled marine classrooms. Marine debris expert Mathilde took on the battling winds, swell and rain earlier this year, during the first instalment of the program in April. The testing weather conditions did not dampen the students from Sarina State High School’s enthusiasm as they conducted reef surveys with Jenni from Reef Check Australia, pulled out invasive weeds with Carlos and Steve from Reef Catchments and cleaned up the 1km of beach along Scawfell Island, entering what was found into the

Australian Marine Debris Initiative Database with Tangaroa Blue staff. Some of the most interesting debris items audited from surrounding beaches included a foreign flare which had been lit as well as a number of foreign plastic water bottles that looked almost brand new!

 

Weather conditions were described as perfect by Tangaroa Blue team member Kara-mae, during the second instalment of the program in September. Students from Mackay North State High School engaged in a beach clean-up activity, covering a 1.5km stretch of beach along Brampton Island collecting a total of 33.5kgs of marine debris. Students were able to determine sources of foreign bottles and learn about the importance of preventing the debris from entering the environment through discussions about source reduction. Sally and Clara from Reef Catchments highlighted many of the invasive weeds on the island, such as Pink Periwinkle, Snakeweed and Cobbler’s Pegs. Many students learnt the hard way about how weeds can easily spread during the tedious task of removing the Cobbler’s Pegs seeds from their clothing. Jenni from ReefCheck highlighted the importance of Citizen Science through the explanation of three different methods of reef monitoring techniques.

It is one thing to learn about environmental impacts and how they can be managed from a lecture slide, however it is another thing to experience it first hand in the field. The marine classroom program sparked passion from students at both schools;

“I’ve come here because I love being in the ocean and I want to make sure it’s protected for future generations”

“It was very interesting to hear about the AMDI database. In the future I will use it to log any debris items I find during a clean-up activity. We (the school) do these kinds of activities often”

This Reef Catchments Marine Classroom project received grant funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Heritage Grants Program. The charter vessel component of the Marine Classroom project is funded through the Queensland Government’s Reef Assist Program and delivered by Reef Catchments and the crew aboard the SV Whitehaven.