Vacuum debris removal
by Ian Thomson 20 Feb 2018 23:02 UTC
Vacuum debris removal © Ocean Crusaders
Well it seems 2018 is going to be an extremely busy year for the team at Ocean Crusaders.
We have already expanded our team significantly over the break with Mike and Damien now heading up our Sunshine Coast operations, Mark and Maura taking on operations in Noosa, Paul and Chris keeping the sausages sizzling each week, Farina taking over social media, Marine Applications taking over the build of our new boat, and me, well I'm just running around like a headless chicken!!!
We have lots of events lined up already for the start of the year with Paddle Against Plastic events in Noosa, Maroochydore, Bulimba Creek and the Yarra River, and then we'll also be off to Double Island Point with Surfrider again in May and the following week we embark on a new campaign by joining 4WD QLD for their annual k'gari (Fraser) Island clean up. We will be taking control of the sorting program to ensure we know what it is we are collecting and where it is coming from. We'll then hand this information onto the Australia Marine Debris Initiative Database to help with source reduction programs.
For those eager eyes, you will see I mentioned the Yarra River. It's a long way from home for us however we have teamed up with Yarra Riverkeper Association and Cleanwater Group and head down in April for a major clean up of the Yarra River's reed grass beds which are full of polystyrene and plastic bottles. Using a new 5" vacuum system, we plan to suck it all out and on Sunday 22nd we will have a huge Paddle Against Plastic community event to show everyone the results.
Our fleet is growing too with our new 7m landing barge due to launch in the next two months and that will allow us to expand operations even more. The requests for our services are increasing and I believe that is due to the fact that we have a 'Can Do' attitude and get stuck into the dirty stuff. Where the rubbish sits is often in behind mangroves and under bushes and our desire to provide a clean environment for everyone and everything means we go in and get it out. Out of sight to us does not mean out of sight for marine and bird life.
Later this year we will have some pretty major announcements so stay tuned and make sure you join us at one of our local events, or if you aren't local to us, consider running your own event. Touch base with us and we will tell you the best way to go about organising something.