TANGAROA Blue Foundation, in collaboration with Port Stephens Council and Hunter Local Land Services, hosted the 2026 edition of the annual Hunter Regional Marine Debris Workshop in Raymond Terrace.
On Monday 4 May, representatives from environmental organisations and the community came together for a five-hour discussion, sharing updates on the state of marine debris and planning collaborative action.
Heidi Tait, founder of Tangaroa Blue Foundation, talked about the promising progress that is being made on the national and local level.
Site audits in Port Stephens have revealed that average pollution levels on public land are contained, with the audits inspiring people to proactively take care of the problem.
Last year, 941kg of debris was removed from Port Stephens’ waterways thanks to three community cleanup events.
Another successful initiative pushed by the foundation is the Rig Recycle.
Around 150,000m of fishing line and 787 spools have been recycled after being recovered or handed in at several locations, including Tackle World Port Stephens and Salamander Bay Waste Transfer Station.
While the data shows positive trends, there is still work to be done.
Edwina Foulsham from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment, shared that in the waters of Port Stephens, there are 0.3 to 0.5 microplastics per cubic metre.
“There is no sample that had no microplastics in it, which is quite depressing.” she said.
“Another big problem is the presence of toxic rubber crumbs in playgrounds used as soft fall.
“The State and Federal Government are encouraging councils to use rubber crumbs because we need to do something with the 50 million tyres that come to the end of life per year in Australia.
“So they shred it up and use it for kids to bounce on.
“We import the cheap, nasty stuff that you can’t sell in Europe, and then we put it on playgrounds.”
Renee French, Waste Education Officer at Port Stephens Council, said that while individual initiatives are very positive the lack of coordinated effort has slowed progress.
“There is a real opportunity to look at the data and be more strategic,” she said.
Further information about cleanup projects and monitoring is available on the Tangaroa Blue Foundation website.
By Nico Lombardo
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