Party: Pete Harvey, Rachel Melrose
Marley Beach is 2hours walk south of Bundeena along the Coast Track [Topo 1:25000 PORT HACKING]. Big Marley also has a lagoon and large sand dunes behind the beach that frequently have rubbish left around them from park visitors. In addition to this, a lot of rubbish gets washed up on the beach that has been thrown off boats offshore. This project is important to preserve the sand dunes for nesting birds such as Terns or Dotterels and it is also important to protect the lagoon from pollution and the general area as it is recognised as an Aboriginal Site, once of the Dharawal Clan.
Collected: annoying and dangerous rubbish – i.e. A thousand little bits of foam mat, and lots of fishing line, hooks and rusty sinkers, an unending amount of plastic bags and drinkbottles.
Interesting things: The Violet Snail, Janthina janthina, had been washed up on the beach as well as some Nudibranch, Glaucus atlanticus, that feed on the snail and the bluebottle. I Also spotted a very large White Breasted Sea Eagle, a local resident often seen while walking The Coast Track.
This is a beautiful place to preserve, I hope to see more people come next time!
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Rachel T. Melrose