Underway under cloudy sky's and light winds

All thee boats are currently heading south down past Recherche Bay with a moderate swell and light winds.  Providing the winds stay light we should be in Port Davey by first light. Its been a long day spent collecting the supplies and loading the boats to ensure we have a chance of beating the expected southerly change midday tomorrow.The crew are looking forward to settling into Port Davey and searching out some new rubbish haunts. We should have two days to explore the vast protected coastline.

Let the provisioning begin

Well the supplies have started rolling in.  Yves from Miellerie Honey dropped of some very tasty looking Lake Pedder Nectar and about an hour later the express courier van dropped off two boxes of goodies from Patagonia (legend effort Case).
With the weather the way it is looking we will try and sneak around the south coast of Tassie either late Friday Night or very very early Saturday morning so tomorrow is going to be hectic. We have to distribute all the fresh and dry stores from Hill Street then race out to the Wursthaus, pack everything and get down to the boats ASAP. Stay tuned

2013 Marine Debris Press Release

MEDIA RELEASE – 14th March 2013

 Say goodbye to Bait straps 

Marine Debris Cleanup of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, south west coast Tasmania

This Saturday, weather permitting, three boat loads of excited and adventurous volunteers will board a flotilla of commercial fishing boats and return to the pristine coasts of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The mission is a simple one, remove and document every visible item of rubbish on every beach we visit.

The cleanup has been running since 1999 and is the longest remote area baseline marine debris survey in the Southern Hemisphere. Since it began 15 years ago, many thousands of hours have been spent beachcombing some of the most wild and isolated beaches in Australia. To date around 117,000 individual items of rubbish have been collected and itemised. In total, the team have collected over 39000 pieces of broken plastic, 36000 pieces of rope,10000 bait box straps, 6000 plastic containers, 5400 bottle caps, 3200 beer cans, 1400 pieces of trawl net and 5 Ugg boots.

All rubbish collected is sorted into various recyclables with the remainder sent to landfill. The collected data* provides information regarding changes in rubbish types and amounts, and when combined with oceanic circulation models it helps determine where the rubbish is coming from.

This year we have forged a new partnership with the Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council in a bid to remove bait related packaging from the fishing bait production cycle. As in South Australia, we are aiming to remove bait straps as a form of packaging. We have collected over 10000 of these since 1999.  Bait straps pose a threat to wildlife and litter nearly every beach we visit.

Grade 8 Hutchins High School student Albert Wyatt will be posting a daily blog to the adventure learning Expedition class website. Our blog will also be updated daily.

Please follow our lead, anyone can help by simply putting rubbish in the closest rubbish bin or by picking up rubbish they see lying on the ground which frequently washes or blows out to sea.

The outdoor clothing company Patagonia, Pennicott Wilderness Journeys, The Tasmanian Seafood Industry Council and AWM Electrical are financial sponsors providing generous financial support for fuel, boat charter, food and kitting out the team with appropriate clothing. Gillespie's Ginger Beer, The Wursthaus, The Wursthaus Kitchen, Moo Brew, Hill Street Grocer and Miellerie Honey, are in-kind sponsors helping to keep the crew provisioned for the week-long trip.

The most essential contribution is from the commercial fishermen who take us around the coast. Thanks to Dave Wyatt of Southern Ocean Adventures,Mark Webster of Ralphs Tasmanian Seafoods and Fisherman Darren Clark. Normal charter costs for this one week’s boat hire would be close to $60000.

Please follow us on the Daily Blog at: http://wha-marinedebris.blogspot.com/

Further Enquiries:

Matt Dell

Email: mattdell@tpg.com.au

Mobile: 0419 922 887

Satellite phone: 0404 056 143 from Monday 23rd of March 2013

* Statistics, videos and photos available on the blog

Raffle Night

After a bit of frantic last minute ticket selling the crew filled the box full of the 1000 tickets that were sold and gave it a few hours of very thorough mixing while we enjoyed the fine music at Mobius. Finally SP found a spare 5 minutes and the Raffle was drawn about 12:30 am Sunday Morning.  SP will be in contact with all the winners.  Many thanks to all those who donated prizes and bought tickets and special thanks to the team for a great job in selling the full 1000 tickets in a month.

1^st Prize

Pennicott Wilderness Journeys 3 Hour Eco Cruise for 2 guests – Pat Trinder         

http://www.pennicottjourneys.com.au/

2^nd Prize

MONA $200 Gift Voucher - Stormon Norman

http://www.mona.net.au/

Prize 3

Ethos Dinner for 2 – N. Campbell

http://ethoseatdrink.com/

Prize - AWM Electrical $100 Gift Voucher – Simone Castle

http://www.truelocal.com.au/business/awm-electrical/hobart

Prize - The Italian Pantry $100 Gift Voucher – Lou Proud

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Italian-Pantry-Hobart/138974646157443

Prize - Billie Jo Fashion $100 Gift Voucher – Chris Noble

http://www.billiejo.com.au/

Prize - MONA Long Weekend Gig 2 double passes – Tania Glover

http://www.mona.net.au/

Prize - Polkadot Liquor Party Pack – Benjamin Jackson

http://tasmanianbeerfest.com.au/

Prize - Laminated A3 World Map Poster – Laura Pigneri

http://www.map-centre.com.au/

Prize - Mates Rates Wine – Peter Wilson

http://www.matesrateswine.com.au/

Cleanup Raffle

A big thanks to SP for organising this raffle which will contribute to the fuel costs for the cleanup. Major prizes include a trip for two with Pennicott Wilderness Journeys, a Mona gift voucher and meal at Ethos, Along with Concert tickets, Party Packs and gift vouchers. A big thanks to the sponsors for donating the prizes.

Cleanup 2013

The 2013 Cleanup will be departing on the 16 March. We are happy to welcome Ralphs Tasmanian Seafood on Board. Ralph will donating the use of his boat the Diamantina III for the trip. The Diamantina III will join the Velocity and the Breaksea on the Cleanup provide the transport and accomodation for the biggest group of volunteers we have ever taken around the coast.

Marine Debris Fundraiser