Boston Museum of Science

Throughout Melbourne, the Tangaroa Blue Foundation set up storm drain catchment filters to collect organic material and trash before they get a chance to drain into the bay. They then brought the collected materials to the Port Phillip EcoCentre's temporary space, and allowed our team along with other volunteer community members to help sort through the material. Sorting the materials into categories like plastic bottles, paper, cigarettes, foils, identifiable plastic wrappers, ect, Tangaroa Blue was able to collected data on the specific types of trash collected at particular drain catchment sites. This data was then given to local governments to help identify ways to cut down on the production of this waste.

Our team (Ashley & Maddie), along with a few other EcoCentre interns, was able to help Neil Blake (Port Phillip EcoCentre's Baykeeper) conduct a mollusk survey. The survey took place on St. Kilda beach and is conducted by the EcoCentre about every 6 weeks. During low tide, we walked the shoreline from pier to pier collecting seashells that were left behind from the last high tide. When we reached the end of the surveying area, we all sorted our shells together based on the type of organism. Then as a group, organism by organism, we discussed about how many of them we saw on the beach. After coming to an agreement, we documented the value, along with a description of the shell organism, the size of the largest shell collected of that organism, and whether or not it was a fresh kill. The EcoCentre uses this data to help track the growth and recession of mollusk populations and sizes overtime. Helping to conduct this survey helped us gain insight into how the EcoCentre runs citizen science initiatives and how the data can be used. A simple fun task like collecting unique shells can lead to important scientific discoveries that can largely impact the bay.

Our team (Brent, Jack & Will) was also able to attended a beach fauna photography program hosted by the Port Phillip EcoCentre along with Gasworks Arts Park and the Photography Studies College. At this event, photography students participated in a small mollusk survey, a tour of the flora and fauna, as well as a small beach audit. Our team followed each of the three groups that rotated between these small citizen science activities. The purpose of the program was to showcase the unique and critical flora and fauna that are in Port Phillip Bay as well as teach individuals the importance of photography's contribution in citizen science.

The team was also able to attend the Yarra river plastics trawl on April, 13th with Fam, Neil and the Yarra Riverkeeper. Beginning at the Yarra’s Edge Marina, a small boat took us out into the Yarra and Maribyrnong River where we slowly pulled a net made of filter along the side of the boat. It was important to make sure the net stayed afloat to ensure that any microplastics that linger on the surface of the water get caught in the net. We pulled the net along the surface of the water for 30 minutes along each river. After the sample was collected, the very end of the net containing any material that was in the water was detached and prepared to take back to the EcoCentre where it could dry out for a couple days. While it didn’t seem like the net had caught much debri, Neil and Fam assured us that we would be surprised to see how much plastic was picked up once given the chance to dry. In addition to pulling the filtering net along the surface of the water, we also used a water pump system (designed by a previous WPI IQP team), to vacuum water at various depths through a filter. We additionally used this device for a total of 50 minutes between the two rivers. While there were some visible plastic deposits caught in the filter of the pump, more microplastics also became observant once given the chance to dry.

The last environmental citizen science event that our team was able to help participate in was the costal erosion & dune profiling event. This event was held by the EcoCentre at Port Melbourne and instructed by Neil Blake and Nadav Zisin. The goal of this project was to help measure any erosion of the dunes and document flora species along the dunes. Using a bucket level (a bucket of water with a tube used to determine if the end of the tube is level with the bucket), we used a tape measure to measure the water level of the beach every 3 meters. This was conducted in two locations, but will eventually be conducted in 9 locations across the dune. As one group recorded the dune level, another group followed behind to record the species of flora that also appeared every 3 meters along the measuring tape. Survey all 9 locations is repeated about 4x a year to track changes in the beach's health.