Friday, April 2, 2010

Extreme effort for our oceans and beaches

You may have seen Jarad Kohlar kayaking out of the Sandridge Life Saving Club very early in the morning. With 8 other paddlers, he is planning to cross Bass Strait from Tasmania to Wilson's Prom on a surf ski to raise funds for the Surfrider Foundation. Jarad says:

'... many of these beautiful beaches are littered with plastic bags, bottles and other rubbish. Even worse, this rubbish often creates deadly traps for birds, fish, crabs/crayfish and other marine life. Next time you head to your local beach, take a plastic bag with you and see how long it takes to fill it up with rubbish.
During this expedition, we will be paddling for up to 8 hours per day, then landing on a beach on one of Bass Strait’s many beautiful islands to set up camp. After dinner, each of us will then spend an hour picking up all the rubbish we can find on the beach and in the dunes, then recording what we’ve collected and advising Surfrider of the results. Surfrider will input this data to the National Marine Debris database and use the results to educate the community and raise awareness of marine debris; trace and address the source of the debris in a non-aggressive, education based way; and to monitor the impact of marine debris on Australian locations.'

Their aim is to raise $20,000 for the Surfrider Foundation. They have raised $7,000 so far.
You can follow his journey (or sponsor him) at
http://bassstraiteverestofthesea.com

We can also help Jarad's initiative by cleaning up our own special part of the beach.

1 comment:

FOPMF said...

I wish them calm weather and a safe journey on their adventure.

It will be interesting to hear what their findings are from the litter pick ups.