To top off an impressive year for Rig Recycle, the team was joined by B&C Plastics, Shimano, the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) for a remote clean-up supporting the Nanum Wungthim Land & Sea Rangers and Napranum community members at Pennefather Beach, just north of Weipa in Cape York.
The 5-day remote event provided the opportunity for everyone to experience first hand the enormous amounts of plastic marine debris that impact this region in the Gulf of Carpentaria. In all, 4.5 tonnes of marine debris was removed from 4km of coastline, a significant amount coming from international commercial fisheries including these squid jigs that made everyone cautious of where they put their hands!
This event provided the opportunity for open discussions to take place from all sectors on the state and future of plastics and how recreational fishing has a responsibility to lead due to its direct impact on our oceans and life below and above it.
As a reward, the team were very lucky to witness turtles nesting each evening, which made everyone feel like they were contributing to the chance of success for the turtle hatchlings to make it to the water’s edge by removing the barriers of rubbish in their way.
Rig Recycle will be back in Cape York in 2024 for more remote clean-up events – if you’d like a remote adventure that you can fish and leave it better than you found it, contact us at rigrecycle@tangaroablue.org for more information.
