Final Cast for Fishing Float Project

NACC NRM’s Fish Float Survey Project is coming to a close, which means our Coastal & Marine team have some exciting findings to share!
Home 🞂 Newsroom 🞂 Final Cast for Fishing Float Project

NACC NRM’s Fish Float Survey Project is coming to a close, which means our Coastal & Marine team have some exciting findings to share!

But first, a bit on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of this project’s inception. A year ago, NACC NRM was successful in obtaining funding from Keep Australia Beautiful Council’s Community Litter Grant! This grant was secured with the objective of building a database of numbers etched in fishing floats found washed up along the coastlines of the Northern Agricultural Region.

The primary aim of the project was to work out which fishery sector these floats were coming from, with the data collected to then be used by resource managers to address fishing gear loss in sectors that contribute to marine debris. Additionally, the project offered valuable insights into the percentage of marine debris that originates from the pot fishing sector (lobster and octopus) and drew a comparison between gear that has been lost or discarded recently, and gear lost or discarded a long time ago.

Now onto the results – drum roll please!

  • Of the 152 fishing float numbers collected, 77% were from the commercial pot fishery, 14% were from the recreational pot fishery and the remaining could not be identified
  • Of the 161 kg of marine debris collected, 62% came from the pot fishing sector (commercial and recreational combined)
  • Of the 101 kg of pot fishing gear collected, 30% was considered recently lost and 70% lost long ago


Stay tuned for more statistics to come, as this data has many stories to tell.

DPIRD team members Ben Bockman & Jake Ronald
NACC NRM’s Josh Burney with Midwest PEAC students

So, what’s next? Well, this project has provided a definitive answer to which sector contributes most to marine debris on our beaches, as well as just how much it contributes. The Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, as a stakeholder in the project, is keen to review the data in detail to find ways to reduce loss of commercial pot gear.

Also indicated is the large proportion of fishing gear that was lost long ago; continued beach clean-ups are the only way we will ever remove these items before they break up into microplastics, enter the food chain, and end up in the stomachs of many animals, humans included. This would seem of sufficient importance to justify a coordinated and properly resourced effort to remove all this legacy fishing gear.

Whilst the initial project has wrapped up, NACC NRM will continue to maintain the float number database, so please keep those float numbers rolling in here. A huge thanks to all data contributors, in particular a big shout out to two of our outstanding stakeholder contributors to the database – Ashley Sutcliffe (DBCA) and Samantha Culbertson (KABC) – who both took the time to enter data from their large clean up events. The outstanding winner of the $100 prize for community contribution was clean-up stalwart David O’Meara with a whopping 19 float entries – a great effort as always.

Dr Mic Payne with our winner, David O’Meara

As reported in last month’s newsletter, KABC has just completed a series of videos promoting their Community Litter Grants, one of them focusing on this project. The 2025 Community Litter Grant round is open now, providing essential funds for your litter reduction activities.

Thank you lastly to those who got involved and made it all happen; Keep Australia Beautiful Council WA, the Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development, Yamatji Southern Sea Rangers, Batavia Coastcare Network, and of course, our incredible community.

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In 2020-21 I talked about ‘raising the bar’. In 2021-22 we worked on setting the bar on fire. Over the last 12 months, the team at NACC NRM has not stopped.

The Sustainable Agriculture team has extended the program’s reach through collaborations with grower groups in the regions. Specifically, the Beyond Reasonable Drought project and Grower Group Alliance – South West WA Drought Innovation Hub – Geraldton Node project. The Beyond Reasonable Drought partnership with grower groups supported farmers across the region to improve the environmental sustainability of their agricultural production and drought resilience. The outcomes of this project have been consolidated through our successful Expression of Interest to the South West WA Drought Innovation Hub, with support from grower groups across the region, to host the Geraldton Node of the Hub. The program continues to focus on working with agricultural networks to share technical expertise and provide opportunities that will improve land management practices in agriculture across the region.

The conservation outcomes of ranger teams have expanded through work on several land tenures. Maintaining Heritage sites such as Willi Gulli, Racecourse Paddock and Buller River has long been a priority. During 2021-22, the teams have increasingly focused on threatened species and ecosystems.

To this end, Western Mulga rangers have improved management across 19,000 ha for the conservation of Malleefowl through firebreak and access management. They completed the maintenance of water holes and supported the monitoring of over 90 Malleefowl mounds.

Similarly, the Kwelena Mambakort Aboriginal Corporate ranger team have contributed positively to Carnaby’s Black Cockatoo populations by installing artificial hollows and habitat restoration.

All ranger teams have collected native seed, propagated native plants for restoration, and planted native vegetation in key locations across the NAR. Seed collection provides valuable industry experience and has facilitated the planting of over 100,000 seedlings during the year.   

In September 2021, the NACC NRM team delivered the WA Threatened Species Forum, held in tandem with the National Malleefowl Forum. Given the impact of COVID and the timing of this event, having more than 100 delegates from all over Australia was a significant achievement. The two Forums brought together 12 events over five days and featured 14 local artists, 25 businesses and 36 youth participants.

Following the successful relaunch of our updated NARvis, NACC NRM was invited to help lead a significant piece of strategic planning work for the region with Mid West Development Commission and the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. With funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund, the consortia delivered a Regional Drought Resilience Plan covering the shires of Northampton and Chapman Valley and the City of Greater Geraldton, along with significant technical analysis of drought vulnerability for the South West land division. The development of this plan also included extensive community consultation to ensure that local knowledge and technical advice guided the development of priorities for action.

This planning work links to existing NACC NRM on-ground projects, including Beyond Reasonable Drought and the Chapman Catchment Collaborative regeneration project.

It was a busy year for events with face-to-face events becoming commonplace again. During 2021-22 we hosted events in Gingin, Moora, Dalwallinu, Cervantes, Jurien Bay, Walkaway, Nabawa, Perenjori, Kalannie and Morawa. We supported events in Karakin, Thundellara, Perenjori, Paynes Find, Wubin, Cataby, Warradarge, Northampton, Yuna, Dalwallinu and Dandaragan.

We also supported on-ground works throughout the region, including at the following locations Yuna, Dalwallinu, Dandaragan, Merkanooka, Goodlands, Kalannie, Bunjil, Yardarino, Canna, Kondut, Latham, Kadathinni, Nabawa, Red Gully, Sandy Gully, Waddy Forrest, Devils Creek, Perenjori, Bowgada, Ellendale, Wandana, Namban, Hill River, Warradarge, Gillingarra, Regans Ford and Moonyanooka.

Our region is vast – slightly larger than Tasmania, which for comparison, is serviced by three separate NRM organisations. Covering the NAR region and its many environmental threats is challenging. We continue to focus on partnerships and collaboration to address this challenge. We know that by working with our community through passionate delivery of collaborative on-ground projects and education, the community will value and actively protect our region’s natural capital.

This year we have launched a new Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). The RAP Working Group consulted widely and developed an Innovate RAP which Reconciliation Australia approved in March 2022. The activities to fulfil these commitments are now in full swing.

Sadly, at the end of 2021, we farewelled former NACC NRM CEO Shelley Spriggs, who lost a long battle with cancer. Shelley was an inaugural inductee to the NRM Leadership Honour Roll. I will always be grateful for her guidance and no-nonsense approach, not to mention her passion for life.

While we have said farewell to some, we have welcomed many new faces across all programs, including our Administration team. We have also hosted a school-based trainee from Nagle Catholic College who has been working towards a Certificate II in Conservation and Ecosystem Management. This trial position has been very successful, and we look forward to making this opportunity available again in 2023.

During 2022 we have taken on new projects that align with our organisational and program objectives, and we have successfully completed some great initiatives that support continued conservation and sustainability outcomes. I want to thank the whole team who continue to go above and beyond for the organisation and each other proving their ongoing commitment to our purpose and our values.