Fifty-six volunteers undertook a major coastal clean-up at Alonnah on Bruny Island on Saturday the 2nd of April, 2016.

Local residents from Bruny and the Channel areas, Sustainable Living in Kingborough, Conservation Volunteers Australia and the Bruny Island Boat Club joined forces with staff from NRM South, Huon Valley Council, Tassal, and TasWater – with the aim to make a real difference to our waterway by removing waste from the Bruny Island coastline between Alonnah and Simpson Bay.

Nepelle Crane, coordinator of the D’Entrecasteaux and Huon Collaboration, commented “It was great to see so many people from the Channel and Huon Estuary area come together to tackle the threat of marine debris. Despite the cooler weather and strong winds we had more than fifty people collecting rubbish across 11 kilometres of the Bruny Island coastline.”

The volunteers removed over 5 cubic meters of marine debris and also recorded the type of waste collected by sorting and counting each piece of rubbish.

“The volunteers collected large amounts of rope and plastic, fishing nets, tyres, buoys and even a fridge.” Nepelle said. “Not only were they helping to make our coastline cleaner and safer for people and wildlife, but they have made a major contribution to our understanding of the types of marine pollution that we have, and the likely sources. We can use this information to develop a targeted education program aimed at reducing the amount of rubbish that enters our much-loved waterway, and continue to work together to address debris issues.”

The D’Entrecasteaux and Huon Collaboration hopes to repeat the program annually at locations across the D’Entrecasteaux and Huon coast.

The marine debris clean-up was co-organised through the D’Entrecasteaux and Huon Collaboration and Sustainable Living in Kingborough’s “Marina Debria” program. The D’Entrecasteaux and Huon Collaboration is supported through funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Programme, NRM South and the D’Entrecasteaux and Huon Collaboration partners – the Derwent Estuary Program, Huon Aquaculture, Huon Valley and Kingborough Councils, Tassal and TasWater.