Anyone who has visited the township of Busselton on the South West coast of Western Australia, will come away with memories of the famous Busselton Jetty which reaches 1.8kms out into the pristine waters of Geographe Bay. As the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere, it attracts over 400,000 visitors per year. These visitors include divers, photographers, international and interstate tourists, fisherpersons and locals. Although most visitors take away memories of blue, clear water and clean beaches, unfortunately there are significant amounts of litter left behind each day. The famous Busselton Jetty Underwater Observatory is located at the seaward end of the jetty and the observatory staff walk to and from the structure each day. They use this opportunity to collect rubbish so carelessly left behind.

Staff from the Busselton Underwater Observatory have supported the South West Marine Debris Project since its creation. This year a new part of the Project is underway with staff collecting debris from the entire 1.8 kilometre of the Busselton Jetty every day! Data will be collated monthly and used to look at patterns in debris and ways to educate the public on the impacts of their litter on the ocean environment. Also every piece of debris the staff collects is one piece that won't be blown into the ocean!. Data is sent each month to the offices of Tangaroa Blue Ocean Care Society for processing and interpretation. The Busselton Jetty also participates in the annual Cape to Cape Beach Clean up held in the area. Together we are helping to protect our oceans!

Subscribe to the Busselton Jetty Monitoring RSS Feed to keep up to date with developments in the project!