BAMOS
Sep 2019
News
National Science Week 2019
Highlights from Tasmania
Carly Tozer & Kathy Allen, TAS Regional Centre Co‑chairs
As part of National Science Week 2019, AMOS Tasmania teamed
up with the Australian Marine Science Association to present
"Plastics in the Ocean: Finding solutions by linking science and
community". This event comprised a very successful poster
competition followed by a free public lecture and panel session.
Participants in the poster competition were asked for ideas
on how to get rid of plastics in the ocean, or to suggest
alternatives to using plastics. We had some great entries from
young students, including a plastic‐blasting drone! The posters
were displayed at the public lecture and attracted much
public attention. They certainly stimulated many interesting
discussions. Prizes for the poster competition were awarded at
the lecture and it was great to see many young students—not
just the prize winners—at the lecture.
The lecture itself included talks from four local experts. Dr Heidi
Auman (UTas) set the scene by outlining some of the impacts
of marine plastics on native wildlife and Dr David Griffin from
CSIRO spoke about how ocean currents transport plastics
around the world. Dr Lauren Roman provided more detail on
impacts of different types of plastics on sea birds and Cr Bill
Harvey from Hobart City Council provided insight into the
Council’s plastic‑free policy. The talks prompted a great many
questions from the large audience to the panel. Many of the
questions revolved around what the local community can do to
reduce the amount of plastic entering the marine environment.
The event was extremely well attended, successfully engaging
an audience ranging from scientists and industry to students
and general community members. We would like to thank the
University of Tasmania and Inspiring Australia for supporting
the event.
A selection of entries from the poster competition (pictured
above), a panel (pictured below‑left) and lecture (pictured
bottom‑right) featuring four local experts all contributed
towards a great event.
Images provided by Cathy Tozer.
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