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Bringing together dive volunteers and the community, the Sea World Foundation team are hosting their fourth annual Ocean Clean Up at the Gold Coast Seaway this Sunday 3rd December to remove rubbish and reduce the risk of entanglement for the local marine life.

There has been a tremendous response to the event with almost 200 land and dive volunteers registered to join the clean-up initiatives with the community doing their part to preserve one of the Gold Coast’s most iconic natural areas.

Sea World Foundation veterinarian, Dr. Claire Madden said the Ocean Clean Up initiative commenced after an increase of marine birds and turtles were coming into care from the Gold Coast Seaway due to marine debris and entanglement.

Dr Madden noted “since commencing the annual Ocean Clean Up in 2020, we have removed over a tonne of marine debris from the Gold Coast Seaway, and we are hoping to add to that tally this Sunday.

“Given the closeness of the Seaway to Sea World, our team took the opportunity to address the entanglement and debris issue head-on and partnered with the local dive communities to create this annual event to remove rubbish from above and below the water to reduce the risk of entanglement for the local marine life.

“The great thing about this event is that the whole community can get involved and with the combined efforts of divers and land based volunteers, we can do a thorough clean up of above and below the surface.

“Sadly, a lot of the marine debris are underwater, and it is often a case of out of sight, out of mind, but we work closely with the local dive communities who regularly use the area to monitor the rubbish levels and conduct these clean ups to have maximum impact.”

Last year’s efforts saw over 400kgs of rubbish removed from the area including over 43kgs of fishing line, hooks and sinkers, with 126 dive volunteers and 120 land based volunteers participating.

The Sea World Foundation Rescue Team are on call 24 hours every day, 365 days a year should a marine animal need rescuing. For more information visit seaworld.com.au/foundation/rescue

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