This episode is the first of a four-part series of recorded audio from the Ocean Plastic Action Forum at Bondi Beach – held on 15th March 2023, as part of the Volvo Ocean Lovers Festival. The forum included industry leaders, innovators, scientists, government and community leaders discussing how to 'turn the tide' on plastic in our ocean – including a few short presentations and interactive Q&A panel sessions. This first part focusses on the “Key Trends and Impacts” session, which included insights into the plastic pollution problem including key sources, trends, and known and potential impacts of ocean plastic pollution. Dr Denise Hardesty (CSIRO) provided a short presentation, and was then joined by Dr Charlene Trestrail (UTS), Dr Michelle Blewitt (AUSMAP), Pete Ceglinski (Seabin), Grahame Lloyd (Sea Shepherd Australia) and Murray Powell (Optimal Stormwater) for an interactive panel discussion with audience Q&A. The following three episodes will feature the remaining three parts of the forum. 

Useful links:

• https://www.oceanloversfestival.com/
• Photos from forum here - by Brendan Reid

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Nicholas Carter is an ecologist and environmental science and policy analyst, and advocates for transformational food system changes. In this chat, we discuss the link between agriculture and land use, how to address the climate and biodiversity crisis while still feeding the world, and bust a few myths about 'regenerative agriculture'.

Useful links:

• https://oceanprotect.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/OPPodcast_S5E5_resources.pdf - studies/ analyses referred to by Nicholas in episode (in approximate order)
• https://twitter.com/NicholasDCarter
• https://www.instagram.com/nicholasdcarter/

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Philip Ehrhorn is Chief Technical Officer and Co-founder of The Great Bubble Barrier - the first technology to use a bubble curtain to capture plastic pollution in rivers. We discuss the technology, how the idea came about (simultaneously in two countries), its development, its effectiveness, application and future plans.

Useful links:

• https://thegreatbubblebarrier.com/
• Philip on LinkedIn (here)

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Dr Jodie Rummer is Professor of Marine Biology at James Cook University in Townsville, Australia - and is an expert on climate change and coral fish. In this chat, we discuss the athletic awesomeness of fish, the key threats to the Great Barrier Reef and how to best mitigate them, and what the future looks like for all reefs around the planet.

Useful links:

• www.jodierummer.com
• Jodie on LinkedIn (here)
• https://physioshark.org
• TEDx JCU Cairns presentation by Jodie "Athletes of the Great Barrier Reef" (here)
• Sydney Morning Herald article – “Are we really prepared to lose this natural wonder?” (here)
• The Guardian article "Ocean scientists call for global tracking of oxygen loss that causes dead zones” (here)
• The Conversation article “What the next Australian government must do to save the Great Barrier Reef” (here)
• The Conversation article “Adapt, move, or die: repeated coral bleaching leaves wildlife on the Great Barrier Reef with few options” (here)
• ABC news article “The superfish challenge: Michael Phelps vs real fish” (here)

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Professor Veena Sahajwalla is an expert in recycling, the founding Director of the Director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology at University of New South Wales - and, last year, added NSW Australian of the year to her long list of honours and awards. In this chat, we talk about reimagining 'waste' as an opportunity - drawing on Veena's experiences growing up in Mumbai to her pioneering micro-factories and green steel innovation.

Useful links:

• Veena at UNSW (here)
• Australian Government National Plastics Plan 2021 (here)

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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We kick off Season 5 with a fantastic chat with Dr Charlene Trestrail - a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Technology Sydney. Charlene's particular speciality is understanding how microplastics threaten the animals we need to keep our ecosystems healthy. In this chat, we take a journey through the digestive system (like a microplastic!) and talk about how the different organs in the body are affected by microplastics - and how to minimise our ingestion of microplastics. 

Useful links:

• Dr Charlene Trestrail on Linkedin (here)
• RMIT article "Eating plastic makes for smaller mussels"
• Journal paper "Analysis of Microplastics in Human Feces Reveals a Correlation between Fecal Microplastics and Inflammatory Bowel Disease Status"

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Kimberly is the co-founder and CEO of Carapac - a company that takes waste crustacean shells and makes sustainable plastic alternative packaging. Frozen food processing plants across the Asia-Pacific region cumulatively produce about 8.1 million tons of crustacean waste per year. Carapac takes this otherwise 'waste' and makes truly biodegradable alternatives to petrochemical-based plastics.

This fantastic story of innovation is an awesome way to wrap of our fourth season of the Ocean Protect Podcast. Season 5 will return with gusto in March 2023.

Useful links:

• https://carapac.co/
• Kimberly on LinkeIn (here)

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Bridget is a Sustainability Educator at Keep Australia Beautiful NSW (and PhD candidate at University of Technology Sydney), helping deliver the "EnviroMentors" program to improve community awareness and engagement on local sustainability issues and initiatives. In this chat, we talk about the "Keeping Waterways Clean" module aimed at preventing stormwater pollution, and other effective education methods for kids (and adults) to help save our planet. Ocean Protect has been proudly supporting the "Keeping Waterways Clean" module since 2019.

Useful links:

• Bridget on LinkeIn (here)
• https://www.kabnsw.org.au/enviromentors/

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Marina is an Artivist, who began picking up trash on local beaches, creeks & streets over 20 years ago. In 2009, she began to create pieces of art that questioned the use of single use items and the amount of waste we create - and her work is exhibited regularly at galleries, 'trashion' exhibitions, 'inconvenience stores' and the current 'Sculptures by the Sea'. We chat about Marina's story, her perspectives from 20 years of picking up trash, artivism and animal welfare.

Useful links:

• Marina Debris on LinkeIn (here)
• http://washedup.us/
• Reuters Article 'Trashion' designer displays latest art at Sydney beach exhibition (here)
• Conversation article 'Trashion' designer Marina DeBris turns ocean rubbish into high-end outfits – in pictures (here).

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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Justine is a Research Technician with CSIRO's Marine Debris Group, where she established a method for detecting microplastics in deep-sea sediment and was subsequently the lead author of a paper publishing the first global estimate of microplastics in deep-sea sediment. We talk about deep-sea microplastics and helping to stop it 'at source' with gross pollutant trap sensors and AI technology.

Useful links:

• Justine Barrett CSIRO profile (here)
• Justine's 'The Conversation' article "We estimate up to 14 million tonnes of microplastics lie on the seafloor. It’s worse than we thought" (here)
• RNZ article "Three quarters of fish in southern NZ contain microplastics - study" (here)
• Overview of CSIRO's GPT Sensor Technology research (here)

For further information about Ocean Protect, check us out at www.oceanprotect.com.au

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