Port Phillip Baykeeper » Action

Clean Up Australia Day – tackling the unnatural disaster

BayKeeper — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:54:39 +0000

Congratulations to Ian Kiernan on the 20th ‘Clean Up Australia Day’, with 7,084 sites registered in 2010. Congratulations also to Carmel Wallace for her stunning works (exhibited at 101 Collins Street, Melbourne) made from litter collected from the beach at Discovery Bay.

Carmel's 'colony' of rope collected on Discovery Bay beach

During the 2008-09 year, the Victorian EPA issued 19,465 litter infringement notices, around 90% involving cigarette butts tossed from vehicles, earning a $234 fine.

In March 2010, members of Transition Town Port Phillip collected and surveyed litter from St Kilda West Beach. Cigarette butts made up 39% of 816 items collected. Other common items were lolly wrappers and lolly sticks, bottle tops, cellophane and polystyrene packaging. Fifty-two pieces of broken (bottle) glass was found partially buried in the sand.

The good news was that very few plastic 6 pack holders (known to cause penguin deaths) were found. Has industry practices, government action, or public behaviour caused this improvement? Or perhaps a combination of these? This would make an interesting case study. One thing is for sure, it wouldn’t have happened without ordinary people taking the time to show they care for their local environment.

Mystery mollusc at Point Lonsdale

BayKeeper — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 09:32:56 +0000

Special thanks to all the kids, parents and others who took part in the Baykeeper shoreline shell surveys in January 2010. True to form, every beach was different, highlighting the wonderful diversity of species that live in the Bay. Each survey is a journey of investigation and learning, sometimes into the unknown!

... something out of Avatar??

This mollusc (about 60mm long) was one of several of its kind found in rock pools at Pt Lonsdale Marine Park. They were quite easily seen as they were on open sandy areas in the pools. The most striking features are the limpet-like shell (which seems way too small for the animal to hide in) and the dark-edged flaps surrounding the shell It released an inky fluid when handled. On checking reputable references I’m guessing it may be Aplysia parvula one of the so-called ‘Sea Hares’.

Cigarette butts bad news for the Bay

BayKeeper — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:28:15 +0000

Cigarettes have been marketed as glamorous for the girls and macho for blokes…. anyone happy to set something in their mouth on fire has got to be a ‘cool and can-do’ type! Unfortunately, due to choices many of these people make, hundreds of thousands of cigarette butts enter the Bay each year via stormwater drains; and some see no problem in tossing butts on beaches. When the tosser is long gone their butts are here to stay, up to 15 years according to some sources.

Bad news butts at St Kilda West Beach

Butts aren’t just an aesthetic problem. Their filters,made of plastic filaments, trap particulates including arsenic; and butts have been found in the stomachs of a range of marine animals. The good news is that some people are doing something about it. Residents of Albert Park have formed the 3206 Beach Patrol, with each member pledged to spend an hour a month picking up litter from their beach. It’s great to see community action such as this… so simple it works! Hopefully other communities around the bay will pick up on the idea!

Visit www.3206beachpatrol.com.au