No Longer Up the Creek With Paddles

8th February 2010    No Longer Up the Creek With Paddles

After years of continual boat motor breakdowns, malfunctions and endless repair bills, the volunteer Maroochy River Patrol crew will get a brand new boat motor and steering system thanks to SEQ Catchments and the Sunshine Coast Regional Council.  Yamaha Motors Australia and Dolphin Marine also supplied and installed the motor at cost price.

Cerran  Fawns, Coordinator of Maroochy Waterwatch, said “The old motor was over ten years old and has had a hard life with continual backward and forward movements, in and out of mangroves in search of rubbish on the Maroochy River.  Without a new motor we were facing closing the program as it was just getting too unreliable”.

Last year alone, the volunteer crew collected over 27000 litres of rubbish  which is equivalent to 112 wheelie bins of rubbish removed from the river.  This figure doesn’t include the big items collected such as disused crab pots, 44 gallon oil drums, couches, fridges and car bodies.

Glenn Bartley, Volunteer Coordinator of the crew said, “We perform an essential service to the community and need proper functioning equipment in order to carry out our tasks.  The new boat motor will certainly keep the crew happy and will avoid the continual embarrassment of having to get towed or paddling back to home base”.

He added, “A recent study by CSIRO estimated the Maroochy Rivers worth at $23 million to the local economy, so we need to make sure it is free of rubbish as much as possible”.

The litter pickups is only part of the River Patrols brief.  The new boat motor will also enable the crew to continue with their other activities such as water quality testing, providing advice to river users, helping with mangrove plantings and supporting the new mangrove monitoring program.