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Action for Ocean Wetlands and Rivers

New #SeaToSource Project Launched in Moreton Bay, Queensland

In October this year, Conservation Volunteers Australia (CVA) excitedly began a new  #SeaToSource Moreton Bay project. Over the next two years, this project aims to reconnect people with nature and improve health and wellbeing while reducing the threats of plastic pollution to our waterways, beaches and rivers.

Through a series of community-powered conservation events and activities, CVA plans to clean up beaches and waterways around Moreton Bay. Whether you are an individual, a group, school or someone passionate about reducing the amount of plastic entering our waterways, CVA invites you to join our beach and waterways cleanup project!

As Australia’s leading community-based conservation organisation, we’re actively taking steps to protect and restore ecosystems and resilience through innovative and community-focused projects and programs across Australia. Learn more about this impactful community conservation project and how you can get involved.

#SeaToSource Moreton Bay Project Builds on a Legacy of SeaToSource Initiatives

The #SeaToSource Moreton Bay project builds upon a legacy of SeaToSource initiatives across nine catchment areas across Australia over the past few years.

Our 3-year SeaToSource program, which was launched in 2020, helped us create a model for ocean and river restoration powered by working collaboratively with partners and communities across Australia.

This initial SeaToSource project had incredible results: over 10,600 volunteers removed around 19 tonnes of litter and fifty of Australia’s largest businesses helped us organise 690 SeaToSource events with over 1,237 hectares of waterways and coastlines being surveyed for litter.

The Importance of the #SeaToSource Moreton Bay Project

Moreton Bay is located in the heart of South East Queensland, characterised by networks of sandy beach systems, coastal dunes and estuaries, wetlands and pockets of coastal plains.

This biodiverse and ecologically important area is home to one of Australia’s most important wetlands and it’s one of the country’s largest estuarine bays. Parts of the bay have been declared a Ramsar site, which means it’s considered a wetland of international importance.

The area supports many unique species of flora and fauna including seagrass, salt marshes, mangroves, humpback whales, dolphins and many threatened and endangered species like turtles, dugongs, water mouse and sharks. In addition, it supports over 360 species of birds (including 40 species of shorebirds), many of which are migratory species.

The coastal landscape forms the backdrop to life in this area, and several islands off the coast such as Moreton Island, Coochiemudlo Island and Bribie Islands are hubs of activity where people can enjoy a classic Australian lifestyle of sun, surf and sand.

However, Moreton Bay is increasingly being affected by plastic pollution, which threatens the myriad of significant species it supports and the ecosystems that depend on this biodiversity.

According to a recent article in The Conversation, researchers have found that “Moreton Bay, off Brisbane in Southeast Queensland now has roughly 7,000 tonnes of accumulated microplastics, the same as 700 million half-litre plastic bottles.”

If you take a walk along any of the beaches here, you notice mismanaged plastic waste. This plastic waste is often visible along the high tide water line and all the way up in the dunes.

While plastic waste is unsightly, it also has many negative environmental and health impacts. It can entangle wildlife, cause toxins to build up in the food chain, and can damage ecosystems.

That is why it’s so important that we take action to address plastic pollution – both by reducing our consumption of plastics, and by taking part in beach and waterway clean up events.

Tackling Plastic Pollution in Moreton Bay

Over the next two years, CVA is spearheading the #SeaToSource Moreton Bay project to help clean up our beaches and waterways of plastic pollution. We aim to do this by organising large community clean-up events, source reduction workshops, and citizen-science training.

Excitingly, this project will also contribute litter information to CSIRO’s National Plastic Pollution Baseline Survey, helping to measure and understand the scope, scale and types of litter in the environment.

Our fun and practical source reduction workshops will be open to the public, enabling communities to collaborate and collectively create a plan to reduce commonly found litter items at home, work and school. And everyone can take part in practical clean up events in Moreton Bay, as well as take part in our at-home SeaToSource Plastic Waste Challenge.

Take part in CVA’s #SeaToSource Moreton Bay project

You can take part in cleaning up Moreton Bay by volunteering with Conservation Volunteers Australia. Take a look at our upcoming volunteer events, and sign up to our newsletter to get updates on all our project activities.

And everyone across Australia can take part in our SeaToSource Plastic Waste Challenge via our free CVA app, which makes it easy to take a stance on plastic waste from the comfort of your home!

We hope that you will be inspired by the many ways that we can all take action on plastic pollution.

The #SeaToSource Moreton Bay Project is proudly funded through the Queensland Government’s Community Sustainability Action Grants Program.