This month, scientists from CSIRO’s Wealth from Oceans Flagship are visiting schools at Broome and Darwin, and teachers are joining a research voyage from Fremantle to Darwin.

Teachers will help to conduct marine debris surveys on board Australia’s Marine National Facility research vessel Southern Surveyor, which is owned and operated by CSIRO, and available to all Australian scientists.

The activities are part of Teachwild, a national three-year research and education program developed by Earthwatch Australia in partnership with CSIRO and Founding Partner Shell to investigate marine debris and its impacts on Australian wildlife.

Teachwild enables school groups from years 5–10 to join scientists and Earthwatch educators on field trips to local beaches or waterways, and teachers can also join longer research expeditions.

The students and teachers can enter data on a national marine debris database via an online portal. Nearly 500 records have been logged to date, from 16 schools across Australia.

These data complement surveys by CSIRO scientists around Australia’s coastline, which so far have been conducted at 100 kilometre intervals from north of Cairns and across the south coast to Perth.

Learn more about the marine debris project.

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