Friday 23. of January 2009

By: goat

"Under Key Threatening Processes in the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act), “harmful marine debris” is defined as consisting of: “…land sourced plastic garbage, fishing gear from recreational and commercial fishing abandoned into the sea, and ship sourced, solid non biodegradable floating materials disposed of at sea.”

The International Oceanographic Commission (IOC) has identified marine debris, as one of the five major marine pollutants.

18,000 pieces of plastic litter are floating on every square kilometre of the world's oceans.

Six million tonnes of debris enters the world’s oceans every year."

(source: Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society - Marine Debris Project fact sheet one)

 

Scary facts. But what can we do? The Marine Debris Project is an organization not only focused on researching and addressing the issue, but also helping interested parties in setting up their own beach cleaning projects all the while collecting data for further research and progress on the issue. 

 

Part of the beauty of working on the Breathe project is the fact that once you start talking about these issues, the number of people excited or already working or contributing to the solutions is amazing.

 

The Marine Debris Project was brought to our attention by a friend we hadn't heard from in ten years named Heidi Taylor. Since we last spoke, she has been working in many area's focused on Ocean issues. An avid diver, she is now working in Australia for www.oceancare.org.au and in her own words explains it like this:

 

"Basically we database the data that people send in when they do clean ups. We use the data first to identify what types of debris is prevalent in that area and then work on tracing it back to the source and then look at ways of preventing it from ending up in the ocean/on the coast in the first place.

A lot of our volunteers send in data monthly, others send it in annually, when we get enough data we create a signature of that site looking at seasonal differences including weather, tides, currents, winds, use of the area etc etc etc.

This information is provided to anyone who is looking for data for research and education. We also send it to government agencies, research institutions and industry to help create legislation and mitigation strategies.

For example we have found that plastic bait straps have been ending up on the South West coastline in really high numbers - we have data since 2004 on this, we've been able to lobby the Fisheries Minister, fisheries industry and Dept of Fisheries to look at where this packing tape is coming from.

They are looking at banning it from going on the local fishing boats in the first place so that it can't wash overboard."

Heidi Taylor

 

During the week of Breathe we will be conducting a Beach Combing event, compiling the data for the Marine Debris Project, following that plastic through the recycling process and then following it's inclusion into a new product under the patronage of eco activist, Nicolas Müller.

 

We encourage any and all people interested in creating Beach Cleaning activities to get involved with the Marine Debris Project. Please check the bellow information documents:

 

Please note: added video uploaded by Breathe as an example of what we are looking at.