HELPING HAND TO HARBOUR:
Macquarie Harbour Shoreline Clean-up 2018 Over five days in April, 168 volunteers from the community, salmon industry, Parks & Wildlife Service and Cradle Coast Authority NRM, came together to target 36 shoreline locations at Macquarie Harbour to tackle marine debris. The clean-up was coordinated by the Macquarie Harbour Steering Committee with funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program. This year’s data was calculated by counting everything in two representative bags from each site and then multiplying the number of bags of debris collected. The results reflected the commitment of every volunteer towards cleaning the Harbour with over 30,000 pieces of rubbish collected, filling three 15m3 skip bins. “A clean-up of this scale wouldn’t be possible without different industries and community groups coming together, focused on improving the health of this important marine environment,” Anna Wind, Cradle Coast Authority NRM’s Coastal Coordinator said.
“Everywhere you looked there were examples of team work.” Throughout the clean-up, Tassal recognised the tremendous efforts from all the volunteers involved and acknowledged while debris associated with aquaculture only represented around 19% of what was collected, the industry needs to play its part to maintain continuous improvement with a zero-debris focus. “We are dedicated to reducing marine debris in Macquarie Harbour, as with all areas where we operate, and will be continually performing more regular clean-ups internally throughout the year to hopefully eliminate the need for bigger, annual clean-ups,” Don McIntyre, Tassal Western Zone Senior Manager said. 26
WINTER 2018 CURRENT
TOP: Active Strahan and Conservation Volunteers Australia at Meredith Street boat ramp. BOTTOM: Collecting debris in rafts on the King River. Photos courtesy of Cradle Coast Authority NRM.
