The mission on February 3 was met head on by the students of the North Gosford Learning Centre as they headed out to the Cockle Bay Nature Reserve on the Brisbane Waters for a clean-up event, with coordinator Graham Johnston.
Joining the Brisbane Waters Foreshore Clean-up Program was local oyster grower Simon Funnel who also brought along his barge to help in the removal of the litter and bulk items from the mangroves and saltmarsh in the reserve.
The low tide made work very difficult, especially getting into the sites, and hauling the rubbish out, and in just 300 metres of mangroves 25 bags of mixed litter and plenty of plastic bottles, blown in by the prevailing north east winds was removed. The area was in very bad shape from all of this litter. Larger items removed included eight oyster trays (breadbaskets), oyster mesh, two tyres, outboard motor, foam and processed timber, large plastic drums and large oyster trays.
The initial task of loading was hampered by the mud, with an old tinny boat found in the mangroves utilised to haul out the litter. The tinny was tied off at Empire Bay jetty for collection. Plenty of litter still remains with over a kilometer of foreshore still to be monitored and cleaned.
All litter was loaded into the IRB trailer and transported to Woy Woy tip where 300kgs was weighed in! A great job by the students and teaching staff in very demanding conditions.
Thanks to the Gosford Council’s Foreshore Grant as well as part funding provided by the school.
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