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Join the EcoGroms for a Walk-a-thon!

Join our walk-a-thon to pick up rubbish and raise money for a Seabin to help local sea life.

• Boambee Bay to Jetty Foreshores
• Sunday 27 July from 10am
• Sign up and get sponsors for your walk
• Bring a rubbish bag to pick up rubbish
• Entry Fee - $5
• Feel free to bring your dog along

If you don’t want to walk you can volunteer to run a water-stop or pick up full rubbish bags in your car.

Please click here to register or check out our information sheet for more information.

What is a Seabin, and why do we want one anyway?

• A seabin is a type of bin that is on the side of a marina and as it floats it collects rubbish from the area. When the rubbish goes into the bin and is collected while the water flows through and gets pumped back into the ocean.
• We need this bin so that the ocean wildlife can be protected from rubbish such as straws, plastic bags, coffee cups and much,much more. If not stopped many more animals will die.

This year our Shearwater season started in mid-April and went through to the first week of May. We worked together with NSW National Parks and Wildlife and Wires to return any fledglings that got lost to Mutton Bird Island. Mutton Bird Island is where these shearwaters start their migration journey. Some of these fledglings may have just got lost, others were just a bit too weak to carry out the journey.

When the fledglings first come in to Dolphin Marine Rescue (DMR) they go through a triage process which entails weighing and checking body condition. After this assessment, the bird is offered a solution of water and spark, which is an electrolyte solution that helps with re-hydration. Some were given a quiet place to rest and re-hydrate overnight others where just given the day before being released this was all dependent on the initial triage assessment. Any birds that were under 300g we marked so that we could see if any of the same birds were coming back into care or found deceased. We found that majority of the birds coming into care were under 300g. A fledgling over 300g has a better chance of survival, which has been assessed by other rehab facilities. Next year changes that DMR will introduce is marking birds over 300g with a different colour to the birds under 300g.

Dolphin Marine Rescue worked together with Wires and NSW National Parks and Wildlife to perform necropsies on all birds that were found deceased on Mutton Bird Island or the Coffs Harbour region. The main aim of these necropsies were to determine if any plastic had been ingested by the fledglings. Once Shearwater season had ended our Ecogroms came in to aid in the necropsy process. This was a fantastic learning opportunity for our Ecogroms, they got to aid in wildlife conservation, learn about bird anatomy and the digestion process. A large focus was also had on how rubbish, plastic and marine debris can have a devastating impact on wildlife.

• Live on arrival: 44
• Deceased on arrival: 27
• Released: 36
• Died in care: 8

Necropsy results:

• 4 birds over 250g, only one of those 4 was over 300g. The other 23 were under 200g
• Only 1 bird with all adult plumage
• No plastic found in any birds
• Majority of birds had squid beaks still in stomach.
• No birds marked at Dolphin Marine Rescue (DMR) had come back into care at DMR but some did end up back in care with Wires.
• No birds marked at DMR where brought in deceased for necropsy.