More than 100 cubic metres of debris, equivalent of one quarter of an Olympic swimming pool, has been removed from the region’s beaches and waterways this week.
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The mammoth clean-up began after 83 containers fell overboard as cargo ship YM Efficiency passed the Port Stephens and Newcastle coastline on June 1.
Roads and Maritime Services executive director Maritime Angus Mitchell, head of the recovery task force, said a team of 100 workers along with teams on boats, aerial surveillance and divers continue to collect material from the water.
“There are known channels where the currents are running, so three teams of divers have taken video of what submerged objects may be visible, are taking video of what they see ahead and are manually picking up these objects” Mr Mitchell said.
“One of the three teams located a number of tyres on the ocean floor at Rocky Point and managed to remove 12 of these. Divers will return to the location to remove the remainder.
“Helicopter surveillance has also revealed new remote beaches and rocky outcrops with debris between Mungo and Hawks Nest where the teams will likely use quad bikes to access.
Fingal Spit and Shark Island are reportedly the worst impacted areas.
“Significant progress has been made by those cleaning up Boulder Bay, Rocky Point, Jimmys Beach and Bennetts Beach,” he said.
“However, if submersed containers rupture or the tides change, it could cause another wave of rubbish.”
So far there have been no reported injuries to wildlife. On Thursday there was an unconfirmed report of a fishing trawler snagging on a submerged object about 25 kilometres off the coast of Newcastle.
This location is outside the area expected to contain debris of sunken containers, according to modelling carried out this week.
The next stages of the ongoing clean up will depend on weather and ocean conditions.
Roads and Maritime is leading the effort in close consultation with other government authorities in order to determine the area to prioritise the clean up, including National and Marine Parks, EPA, OEH, local councils, DPI Fisheries and the Australian Marine Safety Authority.
For further information visit www.rms.nsw.gov.au/containerincident or call 13 12 36 and select option 2.
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