Coastcare Award
The Coastcare Award recognises a community group or network that has demonstrated excellence in activities that have contributed to the significant improvement of local coastal and/or marine environments, including estuaries, coastal and marine wetlands and salt marsh ecosystems.
Clean4Shore, NSW
Each year, Clean4Shore leads up to 70 field trips – engaging the community, schools and business groups in the removal of plastic and polystyrene around the Hawkesbury River, Brisbane Waters and Tuggerah Lakes.
Volunteer groups led by Clean4Shore remove garbage from waterways while also being educated about the Central Coast’s foreshores and mangroves.
Corporate partners attending Clean4Shore field trips have also learnt about the effects of marine litter.
This growing awareness has been reflected in evaluation reports, corporate feedback, and fundraising.
Cooloola Coastcare Association, QLD
Formed in 2001 to implement foreshore management plans along the coast, Cooloola Coastcare Association (CCA) works to protect the region’s estuarine waters.
Over the last six years, CCA has coordinated the monitoring of 18 seagrass sites throughout the southern Great Sandy Strait, surveyed the foreshore flora for Gympie Council and undertaken regular marine debris removal and audits across the region.
Sites where CCA have worked include the Cooloola coastal wallum catchment and the marine ecosystems of the southern Great Sandy Strait.
Hindmarsh Island Landcare Group, SA
Hindmarsh Island Landcare Group aims to protect and rehabilitate saltmarsh areas, with a focus on reconnecting waterways.
Since 2001, the Murray Mouth Estuary Restoration Project has been the group’s major restoration project, with 500,000 plants sown over 100 sites.
The group has also coordinated woody weed control and used roadside plantings to improve the development of corridors, particularly in areas adjacent to the Murray Mouth, reducing the spread of invasive weeds in the region.
Turners Beach Coastcare, TAS
Turners Beach Coastcare Group (TBC) uses sustainable practices to restore damage caused by land clearing and storms.
The group’s weed control and revegetation efforts protect waterways and wetlands, reflecting the important role that coastal vegetation plays in maintaining the integrity of the dunes and river mouth.
Their work propping up eroding foredunes and strengthening slumping riverbanks has enabled the group to adopt a position of leadership in the community.
While much of the surrounding coast has been developed, the Turners Beach coastal zone has been protected, thanks to the efforts of TBC.
Friends of Beware Reef, VIC
Over the last 15 years, members of Friends of Beware Reef (FBR) have conducted underwater surveys of marine life.
Their research has contributed to scientific knowledge and helped the regional land manager, Parks Victoria, protect the reef’s marine environment.
FBR shares its data with the Reef Life Survey, gathering data on a scale impossible for other researchers by photographing and filming around Beware Reef and other marine protected areas, including Wilsons Promontory, Point Hicks, and Cape Howe.
The group’s work has been shown to schools, festival-goers, and community groups along the Victorian coast.
Woodside Coastal Guardians Program, WA
Woodside Coastal Guardians Program is a partnership between Conservation Volunteers Australia and Woodside Energy with a mission to inspire and empower communities to make a positive contribution to the conservation of Western Australia’s coastline.
Since its inception in 2011, the program has held 896 field days, with over 6900 volunteers working across 61 locations.
Volunteers have planted 67,361 stems, removed 12,685 kilograms of marine debris, and erected more than four kilometres of fence line.
Volunteers have also assisted with seed collection and analysis, walking trail and boardwalk maintenance, biological surveys, and turtle monitoring.
