Marine Debris Project Final Report 2014

volunteer clean up data. The survey methods are designed to be useable with a range of participants,including professional staff, primary and secondary schools, and volunteers. The survey methods have beenoptimized to deliver quantitative and repeatable data, along with all the supporting metadata, in a formatthat allows for rapid assessment (less than 2 hours per site). These materials are readily available over theweb.Development of a national approach to information collection and management 2.2 State, territory andAustralian governments to provide support for community-based coastal and waterway clean-up andmonitoring activities. Australian, state and territory governments 1–2 years.The recent CSIRO marine debris project involved a significant amount of citizen scientist participation. Forthis process we developed a number of potentially useful materials, including several volunteer friendlysurvey protocols, and a database front end that was easy for volunteers to use. These volunteer orientedmaterials are designed to mesh directly with the full CSIRO marine debris database, which can incorporateboth survey and cleanup data. The survey methods have been optimized to deliver quantitative andrepeatable data, along with all the supporting metadata, in a format that allows for rapid assessment (lessthan 2 hours per site). These materials are readily available over the web.2.3 DEWHA in collaboration with state and territory government to facilitate the establishment of anational network of a limited number of permanent marine debris monitoring sites (including withinCommonwealth Marine Protected Areas) to promote consistent monitoring and information gathering andexchange, to enable understanding of long-term trends, and to inform adaptive and effective managementresponses. DEWHA 1–2 yearsWhile there are a number of coastal sites that could be used as long term monitoring sites, some of whichhave existing historical data (Gulf ranger groups, SA NRM), a potentially more useful approach may be tocombine direct monitoring at coastal sites with monitoring of seabirds as indicators for debris. There areexisting programs in the EU for use of seabirds as monitors for marine debris, including environmentaltargets for reporting on debris densities and changes in the North Sea (van Franeker 2011). CSIRO hasdeveloped a non-invasive method for measuring the amount of plastic in a seabird, based on plasticbreakdown products found in oil secreted from seabirds (Hardesty et al. in press).The advantage of using seabirds is that particular species tend to forage in relatively consistent areas.Species like shearwaters tend to pick up relatively large amounts of debris, and thus could readily be usedas bio monitors of debris in the ocean. This would be far less expensive than at-sea surveys from vessels,and likely less expensive than coastal surveys of debris. It also has the advantage of sampling relatively64 | Understanding the effects of marine debris on wildlife