Trashing our oceans and waterways – Short Point (Tura) Beach Survey

To see Mrs. Watson and K/1/2/3's original post...

Clear the Coast Presentation

Hello Mrs. Watson and K/1/2/3,

Today I was able to visit another of my town's beaches. It is busiest in summer and has lifeguards on duty at that time of year but it was only about 12C (about 54F) when I visited it early this morning so few were there. The beach is about 3.6km (2.2 mi) long. Below is a photo of the beach as I saw it...

 

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Here's what I found. As before, after taking a photo, the rubbish was put in a bin.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Again, most of it was plastic. There were pieces of rope, a plastic bottle, spoon, straw, lid and a few other small pieces. The largest was a rope that probably came off a boat.

I know you will be busy with the ocean clean up this weekend. I will be working a DVD of a 14 school music camp performance I filmed last Thursday. There is much to do to have it ready for the schools so I won't be able to post another beach survey before your day. I hope to see some photos of what you collect. 🙂

4 thoughts on “Trashing our oceans and waterways – Short Point (Tura) Beach Survey

  1. sharon

    Dear Mr Mannell,
    The stuff you found could kill living things. When Kezra was helping with our beach clean up she found two pillows. Can you believe that. Have you ever found something like that?

    From
    Jorja in Mrs Watson’s class

    Reply
    1. rossmannell

      Post author

      Hello Jorja,

      It’s very true, a number of the things I have found on the beaches I have surveyed could kill living things. It’s sad even in our quiet tourist time of the year I still find rubbish on our beaches.

      I must say I have never found pillows on the beach but I have seen many things from cigarette butts, bottle tops and small pieces of plastic up to a young humpback whale washed up on our beaches. The poor young whale had died but it had nothing to do with plastics.

      When I go hiking in our national parks, I have seen bed mattresses, chairs, tables, motor parts and many other things left in the parks. People don’t want to pay at our rubbish tips so they throw them in our parks. If they’re caught, the fine can be $1,000. Sad to say, I have been 2km (more than a mile) along a fire trail in a nature reserve and found someone had thrown McDonalds wrappers on the ground.

      We don’t need litter critters. We need environmental heroes.

      Ross Mannell

      Reply
  2. Gage

    Dear Ross Mannell ,
    I had a look at your new’s post it was very good and the post was interest.

    From,Gage

    Reply

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