Welcome To Newsletter Three - Week 6:

Celebrating Diwali - Part One:

Diwali Kindness:

Awesome Learning Environment - Room 8:

Book Club Orders:

It’s Term 4 - Time to be Sun-Smart at WHS:

Pokemon Cards and Flash Toys Reminder:

This Week’s Writing  - A Series on Plastic Pollution:

The statistic is just one prediction of what’s in store if we don’t come to grips with the growing problem of rubbish at sea.

The issue of marine debris was recently brought to the world’s attention by the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which was reportedly hampered by objects that look similar to aircraft remains.

When you consider that six million tonnes of fishing gear is lost in the oceans each year, yet derelict fishing gear doesn’t even crack the top ten most common items found during coastal clean-ups, you begin to grasp the scale of the problem.

Plastic not so fantastic

The Australian government has a “threat abatement plan” which aims to save marine animals from being harmed by rubbish. We set out to inform this plan by developing a better understanding of where exactly this rubbish comes from and how exactly it harms wildlife.

We surveyed the entire Australian coast at 100 km intervals, with help from school groups and citizen scientists. We found that our shorelines are littered with debris. About three-quarters of it is plastic and, although there are some large items, 95% of the items are just a few centimetres across, or smaller.

In Australian waters, you can expect to find anything from a few thousand to more than 40,000 pieces of plastic per square kilometre.

Our rubbish can travel huge distances, leaving behind a trail of destruction. We found that almost half (43%) of seabirds have plastic in their gut, with young birds being particularly susceptible. If the increasing trend of plastic production increases and no effort is made to curb the amount that finds its way into the oceans, then by 2050 nearly every seabird (95%) will have ingested some plastic.

Globally, about one-third of marine turtles are estimated to have ingested debris, and this figure has steadily increased since plastic production began in the 1950s.

Many turtles are killed and maimed by abandoned fishing nets each year, along with other species including whales, dolphins, dugongs, fish, crabs and crocodiles. In the past few years, we estimate that between 5,000 and 15,000 turtles have been ensnared by these “ghost nets” in the Gulf of Carpentaria alone.

Reining in our rubbish

Ocean trash is so dispersed that it is not practical to collect it at sea. It might sound obvious, but the most effective way to reduce the harmful effects of sea debris is to prevent it from getting there in the first place. Our research shows that the vast majority of this rubbish comes from the land, with large concentrations near our cities, rather than from litter dropped at sea.

Making a difference

Littering isn’t the only cause of the problem. Even toothpaste and personal care products can have plastic microbeads in them which end up in the marine environment and are mistakenly eaten by a range of species. Awareness is a major issue here, but there are guides being developed to help consumers make informed choices about the products they use.

Working together, scientists, industry partners, coastal managers and citizen scientists can make significant strides to reduce sea debris impacts in coastal areas and in the marine environment.

Ultimately, however, the throwaway culture ingrained in our society needs to change if we are to tip the scales back in favour of the wildlife in our oceans.

This Week’s Catch-Ups, Reminders and Notices:

This Week’s Tip:

Seussisms from Dr Seuss:

This Week’s Comedy Animal Photo:

This Week’s Thought:

This Week’s Humour: