Marine debris haul at Shelly Beach

More than 45kg of marine debris was removed from Moruya’s Shelly Beach on Wednesday morning after heavy rains washed rubbish into local waterways.

Members of the Eurobodalla Marine Debris Working Group, Landcare and South Head residents picked up the haul and recorded it onto the Australian Marine Debris Initiatives database.

Items included dog toys, thongs, some food wrappers and containers, as well as a gas bottle, a car tyre and a few aluminium cans.

Council’s environmental education officer Bernadette Davis said litter on local streets and roadsides was swept into local waterways in heavy rain and commonly washed up on local beaches and in mangrove areas.

“Shelly Beach in particular is a good indicator of the rubbish coming from the Moruya CBD,” she said.

“It was great to see very few plastic drink bottles and zero plastic bags in the haul, however we did find large amounts of old polystyrene packaging so it was great to get it out of our waterways.”

Now that the sun is out, Ms Davis urged the local legends out on our beaches picking up marine debris to log it on the national database.

“If you record the debris, council and all levels of government, researchers and educators can use that data to help stop litter at its source,” she said.

“Give the handy Tangaroa Blue marine debris app a try – you’ll find it in your app store.”

A large amount of debris as a result of the bushfires, including timber, ash and logs, is also washing down our rivers and waterways, and often onto beaches, which is particularly evident at Shelly Beach.

Council’s environment services manager Deb Lenson said it was likely to continue with large rain events.

“The approach is to let nature take its course with natural debris unless there is a public safety risk,” she said.

Above: Alex King, Emma Patyus, Marian Matti, Stephanie Foster, Helen Ransom and Lyn Bain were among those who took to Shelly Beach on Wednesday to clean up marine debris after the heavy rain.