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Ahead of World Ocean Day - an international day taking place annually on 8th June - SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium has announced today that it has become an official sponsor and partner of Seabin’s Smart City Program in Sydney.

The sponsorship and partnership is motivated by the rescued green turtle Tama, who was found in a critical condition and passed ingested plastics for six days - a powerful reminder of the devastating impact marine debris can have on our sea life.

One of the first adopters of Seabin technology, the attraction in Darling Harbour, bought a marine filter unit to keep onsite more than four years ago. It is known as the “hottest unit”, with the biggest catch of rubbish, of the 32 units in Sydney Harbour.

Lauren Hughes, Aquarist at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium advises “This World Ocean’s Day, we’re sending a clear message that the elimination of plastic pollution in our water is paramount if we want to protect Endangered turtles like Tama and other precious sea life.

“Entering this partnership with Seabin demonstrates our long-term commitment to environmental sustainability and the conservation of our waterways.

“The catch we see removed daily shows how vital these units are to protecting our marine life and over the three-year partnership, we hope to collect more than three tonnes of marine litter! What a difference that will make to Sydney Harbour!”

Fallon White, Seabin Head of Global Partnerships adds “SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium is a long-term, valued friend of Seabin and we are thrilled to see the partnership grow from strength to strength as they come onboard as a proud Unit Sponsor of Seabin's Smart City Program; Sydney; ensuring ongoing daily clean-up and data monitoring of a high need location in Darling Harbour.

“The SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium hosted and sponsored unit is one of the hardest working units in our fleet. In the first quarter of this year, it filtered over 53.4 million litres of water; the equivalent of 21 Olympic swimming pools, removing over 271kg of marine litter, which included an estimated 332,956 plastic items, of which 218,299 were microplastics; a worrying statistic for our marine life.

“Together, with the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium unit, we will work towards a goal to collect over 1,000 kilograms of ocean waste per year, and utilise the data from these catches to help turn off the tap to plastic pollution.”

The program's benefits include sorting and analysing the daily catches at Seabin Foundation's Ocean Health Data and Microplastics Lab, located nearby in Darling Harbour.

This data is used to educate the public on what is being found in the ocean and help drive positive policy making and behavioural changes that will help protect our oceans and marine life.

For more information on conservation work carried out by SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium visit www.visitsealife.com/sydney/conservation

Images from top: SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Seabin in action;Tama rescue green turtle at SEA LIFE Sydney; Aquarium; Tom Batrouney Head of Brand Experience Seabin and Lauren Hughes Aquarist at SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Disgusted by marine waste;  Waste collected by SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Seabin; Microplastic pollution collected by SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium Seabin

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