Santa Monica Campus of St Bernard’s College has been submitting data to Tangaroa Blue’s Australian Marine Debris Database since August 2009 creating an important picture of what types and the amounts of marine debris are impacting this section of the Victorian coastline.
Students recently submitted data from their August beach clean up which concentrated on two specific areas this month – the estuary and river mouth at Aireys Inlet, which is a litter trap for a multitude of plastics, and a stretch of ocean beach from the Great Ocean Rd Archway to Spout Creek. The data showed that hard plastic items were the most common item found. Most of these were less than the size of a five cent piece and most were caught up in the sea grasses in the estuary mouth.
Students were lucky to finally strike a fine and sunny day for this clean up after battling wind and rain for their two previous ones and looking forward to some warmer waters to enjoy surfing and the local beach!
Published by