By Margaret Maccoll
Ocean Crusaders led a group of kayakers to Stumer Creek on Sunday morning to highlight the beauty of the area and remove piles of rubbish.
Organiser Ian Thomson whose group is contracted to clean up local waterways said holding community days teaches people a lot about the amount of rubbish that exists in waterways which they consider to be clean.A former skipper in the Whitsunday Islands, Ian began his campaign to clean up waterways after pulling eight dead turtles from the waters on the Barrier Reef.
He said an autopsy was done on the last turtle he pulled out of the sea and it was found to have died from eating a plastic bag.
“I looked into its eyes and it was trying to tell me something,” he said.Ocean Crusaders now cleans up rivers and was instrumental in having beams installed in storm water drains to hold back rubbish which is collected there instead of travelling into oceans.
And it hosts regular community clean up days. Last Sunday the rubbish collected included plastic water bottles, tennis balls, thongs and an assortment of other objects.
