International Cleanup Day 2008

Take the Plunge for International Cleanup day - September 20, 2008

Project Aware

Dive Ski & Surf Cleanup Day 2007

Over half a tonne of this!

Sasha, from Dive Ski & Surf, reports:
We had 47 divers and twelve land crew who managed to collect over half a tonne of rubbish from Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour in 2 hours.
It's amazing how much we were able recover in only 2 hours in such a small and concentrated area of water and it is sad to think how thoughtless people can be with an 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude! The major culprits were plastic and glass bottles, cigarette butts & plastic bags. Larger items such as bins, boat parts and tyres were also in the mix, along with fishing lines, hooks, mobile phones and sunglasses.... We even found the jawbone of a cow or sheep!
All volunteers recorded their haul on data collection cards to be sent to Project AWARE, who then enter the data into an international database to monitor pollution around the world's oceans and waterways.

Many thanks to Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour Traders Group for their donation which contributed to our post dive BBQ and to Little Creatures for quenching the thirsts of all volunteers with a few tasty brews. Most of all, a huge thank you to all our volunteers - really was a brilliant effort!

Half the crew at Fishing Boat Harbour

Cape to Cape Beach Clean Up 2007

Rigby and Sam Jones helped clean up Injidup Beach

The 3rd annual Cape to Cape Beach Clean Up was held over the weekend, Oct 13 & 14. Over 300 volunteers registered to clean up local beaches between Augusta, Cape Naturaliste and even as far north as Dalyellup. Initial data is coming in and it looks like we will beat last year's results.

Volunteers at Flinders Bay, Augusta

To date we had 15 bags of rubbish weighing over 80kg picked up at Boranup Beach; 8 bags weighing around 50kg picked up around Augusta and Cape Leeuwin; 5 bags weighing over 30kg picked up at Canal Rocks; 2 bags weighing around 20kg picked up at Quinninup. More than 45 individual beaches and stretches of coastline were covered so if the above trend continues it will be horrifying indication of how much debris is actually along our coastline.
Some unusual finds were 4 adult xxxx magazines in Augusta, an extremely large syringe found in Quinninup. Large numbers of rope, floats, bait packing tape and bait boxes & lids, cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles as well as food wrapping, cigarette butts and plastic bags.

The syringe found at Quinninup

A full report will be compiled once all the data comes in from the volunteers will be available for download at www.oceancare.org.au.
Thanks to Coastwest, Keep Australia Beautiful Council WA, South West Catchments Council, Dept of Environment and Conservation and the Shires of Busselton and Augusta Margaret River for the their support.
A huge thank you to the hundreds of volunteers that lended a hand this weekend! What a huge effort in protecting our oceans and marine life!
With more than 1 million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals being killed each year by plastics and marine debris every piece we remove from the ocean is helping us protect our marine life!
Best Fishes
Heidi
Tangaroa Blue

Heidi Taylor, event organiser with bags of marine debris collected over the weekend

Diving Plaza Cleanup Day 2007

Diving Plaza International Cleanup gang after their dive.

Kaoru Takasa of Diving Plaza reports a successful Cleanup Day with 31 divers in the water at Mosman Jetty on the river. A fun outing for all involved, with post dive pizza to round out the morning.

Scuba2 Shore Dive November 2007

Scuba2 will be holding their monthly shore dive at the Western Australian Marine Research Labs on Sunday, November the 18th. The site is west and north of the WA Marine Labs and is at the centre of the Watermans Observation Area within the Marmion Marine Park. It is an ideal site for the less experienced diver as it is approx 6m max depth.
For details contact Mark Dyson dysonm@iinet.net.au.

Black Diamond Lake

The vibrant blue of the former coal mine Black Diamond Lake, Ferguson Road, Allanson, near Collie Western Australia. I have heard of locals diving here, though know nothing more about the lake. I certainly wouldn't recommend anyone dive here without finding more information or local regulations relating to the lake.
I can say if you are diving at Stockton Lake you should visit Black Diamond to see the amazing colour.

Scuba2 Shore Dive October 2007

Scuba2 will be holding their monthly shore dive at North Mole on Sunday, October the 21st. This is a great site for practising your navigation skills trying to find the Gareenup wreck.
Contact Mark Dyson dysonm@iinet.net.au.