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Rubbish protection all bay round MORE than 100 young marine ambassadors saw – and smelled – tonnes of pollution emptied from a Carrum Downs gross pollution trap on Tuesday (9 August). The trap stops stormwater pollutants washed from streets reaching Port Phillip. The sightseeing and smell smelling experience was part of the Dolphin Research Institute’s ‘i sea, i care’ school ambassador program. Ambassadors are trained by peer educators who go back to schools and share what they have learned. Pupils are taught ways to reduce pollutants entering drains and threatening Port Phillip’s marine life and fauna. “The institute is concerned about the link between water quality in the bay and the health of our dolphins,” DRI executive director Jeff Weir said. “If it’s not safe for us to swim in our bay after rain, then it’s also not safe for our dolphins either. We need to do much better.” Cleaning out pollution traps costs taxpayers and ratepayers a lot of money via state government and council programs but Mr Weir says there would be a bigger cost to the environment if the traps were not in place. The Banyan Reserve wetlands in Carrum Downs is a world-class example of how to deal with stormwater pollution. Litter traps capture the large pieces of pollution, ponds let sediment settle and plant life take up many of the soluble pollutants. “Treatment systems help, when they are present, but the best solution is to stop things getting into drains in the first place,” Mr Weir said. See dolphinresearch.org.au for further details of stormwater traps around the bay.
What a dump: Pupils from schools, including Mentone Grammar, above right, witness rubbish being pulled from a stormwater drain at Carrum Downs while an eel, far right, trapped in the dragnet is returned to the dam. Pictures: Gary Sissons
Call for reversal of CSIRO fortunes the CSIRO and guarantee that the CSIRO research centre in Aspendale will not be closed under its watch.” A spokesman for Mr Hunt, John O’Doherty, said “the government’s support for the CSIRO is significant”. “We are committed to growing this funding. We are providing $1.35 billion to the CSIRO this year and this will increase to $1.46 billion by 2019-20. “CSIRO staffing levels are on track to increase from 5078 in 2016-17 to 5335 by 2019-20. “In addition to this investment, the CSIRO has committed to continuing climate science at Aspendale, with a
commitment to operate the site to at least 2023 on a fully-funded basis. “The government has made it clear that climate science is a priority.” Mr Popovski says the union will write to CSIRO chief executive Larry Marshall to demand planned redundancies are halted. “We stand ready to seek an urgent injunction in the Fair Work Commission if CSIRO management fails to do so.”
Atmosphere of cuts: Scientists at the CSIRO laboratories in Aspendale conduct research on climate change.
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Continued from Page 1 Federal Isaacs Labor MP Mark Dreyfus called on the federal Coalition government to reconsider $115 million in CSIRO budget cuts over four years implemented by former treasurer Joe Hockey in his 2014 budget. “While it is pleasing to see Greg Hunt pare back some of the government’s cuts to climate science, the funding that is proposed to be restored is but a fraction of the funding cut,” Mr Dreyfus said. “If the Turnbull government wants to show that it is truly a supporter of science, it should restore all of the funding that it stripped from
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Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News 10 August 2016
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