The Enviro Unit students from Brisbane Water Secondary College, Umina Campus joined the Brisbane Waters Foreshore Program for a clean up on Saratoga Island and Waterfall Bay on February 13th.
The mission for the day was to monitor, and remove where possible litter and disused rubbish from the northern end of Waterfall Bay and Saratoga Island.
Students assisted in the set-up of watercraft and PPE before departing the Woy Woy ramp at 9am. The first port of call was Saratoga Island where four full bags of litter was collected, mostly in the mangroves where the masses of mosquitos made the task difficult.
Next came the eastern foreshore of Paddies Channel, located besides Saratoga Island, which was checked for litter, with concerning results. 30 old oyster trays were found, partly buried under sea grass along 300 metres of foreshore. These trays were stacked in three piles, and are consistent with the trays found adjacent to Riley’s Island. Eight full bags of small litter was also collected at this site with plenty of plastic bottles and beer bottles.
The Pelican Island clean-up was cancelled due to the lower tide so the group transferred over to the southern end of Waterfall Bay instead. Three full bags of small items were collected from beneath the mangroves at the end of Waterfall Bay. The campsite area revealed 16 beer bottles and plastic and food packaging was very predominant during this clean-up. Four large pieces of black plastic “oyster netting” were also retrieved from the mangroves, and deposited on the barge belonging to the Waterfall Bay oyster grower.
After a successful day out the group returned to the boat ramp at 1.30pm, with full pack-up completed by 2.15pm. Well done to everyone involved!
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