About This Project

Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue (ASTR) recorded 763 wildlife rescues across the Northern Rivers in two years; 95 (12.5%) involved marine-debris entanglement. We ask whether beaches with the most rescues also contain microplastics that may create an additional exposure pathway. We hypothesize that microplastics will occur at all selected rescue hotspots, with greater abundance near estuary outflows and human activity. Fortnightly sampling will identify potential exposure hotspots.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

The Northern Rivers coastline of New South Wales supports diverse shorebirds, seabirds and marine turtles, while receiving plastic pollution from rivers, stormwater and coastal activities. Over the past two years, Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue (ASTR) recorded 763 wildlife rescues; 95 cases (12.5%) were classified as “Entanglement – marine debris.” The Broadscale Microplastic Assessment of NSW Estuaries (NSW EPA & DCCEEW, 2026) confirmed microplastics in local waterways, including the Richmond, Evans and Brunswick rivers. However, their abundance in adjacent beach sediments and wildlife foraging areas remains poorly understood. An Australian study detected micro- and nanoplastics in 100% of beach sediments and in 90–100% of guano samples from two resident shorebird species, demonstrating that beach habitats can provide a direct pathway of exposure (Mylius et al., 2023).

What is the significance of this project?

ASTR has extensive experience rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing wildlife across the Northern Rivers. However, wildlife rescue records and environmental microplastic data are rarely analyzed together. This three-month pilot will provide an initial baseline of beach microplastics at selected rescue locations and test a low-cost, replicable monitoring protocol. By connecting environmental observations with ASTR’s existing records, the project may reveal preliminary spatial or seasonal patterns and help identify priorities for longer-term research. Its database and dashboard will make the findings accessible to wildlife organizations, environmental managers, schools and community groups. Although this pilot will not establish causation, it will provide practical evidence to support future monitoring, public awareness, waste-prevention initiatives and collaboration between research and conservation networks.

What are the goals of the project?

We will begin by training four volunteer teams to collect beach microplastic data every two weeks for three months. The pilot will focus on beaches with the highest numbers of wildlife rescues identified through ASTR’s database. We also hope to collaborate with NSW National Parks and a laboratory to identify the types and polymer composition of the plastics collected. Throughout the monitoring period, we will organise the environmental and wildlife information in a shared database and develop a dashboard to make the results easy to understand. By the end of the pilot, we expect to have the first local baseline describing microplastic abundance at selected wildlife rescue hotspots and a tested approach that can support longer-term monitoring.