Luca’s Legacy event results in record numbers of volunteers and rubbish collected
The 6th annual Luca’s Legacy clean up event held in Mandurah on Sunday 27 October resulted in record numbers of volunteers turning up across the two clean-up sites. Over 250 volunteers turned up at Site 1 in Dawesville and Site 2 in Mandurah, on a beautiful spring day. The event resulted in a record haul of litter being collected and removed from the marine and estuarine environment – a whopping 401kgs!!
The litter was audited and recorded by volunteers as they collected it on Tangaroa Blue Australian Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) data collection sheets. This allows for the results to be entered into this important, long-term database that helps track litter collected and removed from marine and estuarine environments as part of Tangaroa Blue’s Annual Beach Clean-up events.
This year’s event also saw the launch of the exciting new Tackle Back pilot project by Tangaroa Blue, RecfishWest and the City of Mandurah. One thousand special pouches (with a carabiner to attach to your fishing box or shorts/pants) have been fabricated out of recycled plastic and are being distributed for free to fishermen across the greater Mandurah region. It provides a simple and convenient way for fishermen to collect and responsibly dispose of their cut line and fishing tackle/waste. Users also have to option of auditing and entering the waste they’ve collected in the special Tackle Back units and entering it into Tangaroa Blue’s new smartphone app as part of the project.
Special thanks must go out to all our event partners that made this wonderful day a success, including Estuary Guardians, Coastal Waste Warriors, Mandurah Cruises, Mandurah Volunteer Dolphin Rescue Group, John Tonkin College, Peel-Harvey Catchment Council, Tangaroa Blue, City of Mandurah, WA Seabird Rescue and all the other people that were involved on the day.
We look forward to seeing you all again for next year’s event.