BeachPatrol targets Discovery Bay

MORE than 108,000 pieces of marine debris has been removed from Blacks Beach in Discovery Bay by a group of dedicated volunteers.

More than 108,000 pieces of marine debris was removed from Discovery Bay.

The debris, which together weighed almost 202 kilograms, was removed by members of BeachPatrol 3280-3284 during last Sunday’s annual clean-up.

The group has organised annual clean-ups at Blacks Beach since 2022, transporting volunteers by bus from Warrnambool, Koroit, Port Fairy and Portland.

Last weekend’s clean-up removed another huge amount of waste from the sand thanks to 31 dedicated people.

But it’s not all going to landfill.

About half of the material recovered on the weekend has been taken to the Killarney Arts Residency for use in ‘Stories From The Sea’, a Regional Arts Australia project developed with BeachPatrol 3280–3284.

“Fishing ropes and nets can be used for basket weaving, plastic fragments for mosaics, fishing crates for storage, and broken fishing equipment for sculptures and larger installations,” co-leader Colleen Hughson said.

“Bottle lids, toothbrushes and other recognisable objects will also contribute to data displays and artworks showing how ocean currents transport debris, including items from Indonesia and other countries, to the south-west Victorian coastline.”

Ms Hughson said the ‘come and try’ sessions give community members opportunities to work creatively with recovered marine debris, learn about ocean pollution, become involved in clean-ups and gather to discuss the problem together.

Sessions held so far have included basket weaving, mosaics and making balls from recovered fishing rope.

Upcoming activities include creating an eye splice using traditional marine rope skills and recycling ocean plastics.

Although this year’s collection was the smallest so far by weight and volume (the biggest clean-up was in 2024 when volunteers collected 760 kilograms in just two hours), this year’s volunteers concentrated heavily on collecting and sorting the thousands of small plastic fragments scattered across the beach.

Ms Hughson said the smaller pieces made this clean-up particularly confronting.

“Collecting large ropes, nets and fishing gear is physically demanding, but it also feels satisfying because you can immediately see what you have removed,” she said.

“Collecting small plastic fragments feels like a never-ending task. The more you collect, the more you see. Our volunteers gathered more than 100,000 small hard-plastic remnants, but that did not even scratch the surface.”

The fragments have broken up from many different plastic products after prolonged exposure to waves, sand and sunlight.

As they continue to degrade, they become increasingly difficult, and eventually impossible, to collect.

The beach is also heavily contaminated with microplastics smaller than five millimetres.

Rather than counting every small fragment individually, volunteers estimated the quantity by volume.

BeachPatrol volunteer Judy Spencer had previously counted and retained 34,252 small plastic remnants as a reference collection.

The volume gathered at Blacks Beach was over three times that amount, producing an estimate of more than 104,000 pieces.

“All remaining debris was sorted and counted individually so the data could be used in BeachPatrol’s research and advocacy work,” Ms Hughson said.

“The ocean connects us all, and its currents carry rubbish from the west towards our coastline.

“We recognise that whatever is not collected from Discovery Bay can eventually wash back out to sea and make its way further along our coast, more degraded, more fragmented and much harder to remove.”

The 975 bottle lids were another striking feature of the collection on Sunday - many were heavily weathered and are likely to have travelled at sea for years and across thousands of kilometres before reaching Discovery Bay.

Ms Hughson said BeachPatrol began organising group clean-ups at Blacks Beach after recognising that the scale of pollution was too overwhelming for individuals to face alone.

“For people visiting this beach for the first time, seeing so much plastic is genuinely shocking. It makes the enormous scale of ocean plastic pollution very real,” she said.

“These organised clean-ups allow us to face the problem, and the feelings of overwhelm, together. People leave with a strong sense of achievement and connection to others in the group.”

Among the items collected on Sunday were 975 bottle lids, 751 pieces of fishing rope, 145 broken rock-lobster pot pieces, 70 plastic drink bottles, 40 toothbrushes, 742 pieces of polystyrene and more than 104,000 small hard-plastic fragments.

“A huge thank you goes to the 31 volunteers who worked tirelessly throughout the day, alongside staff from Glenelg Hopkins CMA and the Victorian Fisheries Authority,” Ms Hughson said.

The clean-up was sponsored by Glenelg Hopkins CMA, supported by the Victorian Fisheries Authority, and made possible with a bus and volunteer driver provided by Coles Coaches.