Table 1: Estimated costs of implementation for selected actions (note that these are not funded actions) Costs anticipated at the time Estimated total cost over the Action of TAP development life of the TAP (generally 10 years) 1.01 Agenda- and action-based $50,000 (staff time for $500,000 (coordination of meetings of representatives of coordination / attendance effort and several relevant agencies and at meetings) teleconferences or meetings organisations (establish a TAP per year) team to coordinate TAP actions for the life of the plan) 1.04 Encourage innovation $200,000 (consultancy to assess $200,000 in recovery and waste the environmental impact and cost effectiveness of the use of treatment technologies waste-to- energy systems in remote coastal communities and at ports) 1.05 Improve management $150,000 (consultancy / staff $150,000 of abandoned, lost and time to review Australia’s discarded fishing gear engagement on abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear in the Asia Pacific region and to determine the appropriateness of current actions) 3.01. Build understanding $1,000,000 (identification of $10,000,000 (long-term related to microplastic an appropriate suite of monitoring of impact on pollution (research projects) indicator species (invertebrate indicator species) and vertebrate) for long-term monitoring to measure the impact of marine microplastic plastic debris) 4.01 Support $500,000 per year $5,000,000 clean-up efforts 4.03 Maintain a national $100,000 (staff time/ resources $200,000 (annual data database for long-term marine for 6 months) maintenance approx. $10,000 debris beach survey data (the per year) ALA) and promote standard methods for collecting and ongoing monitoring of beach clean-up debris Note that substantial volunteer effort on marine debris removal, monitoring and communication has resulted in valuable outcomes for minimal investment. Tangaroa Blue Foundation estimated the real average cost per kilometre of its volunteer-based beach clean-up activities in New South Wales and Queensland (Table 2; note variability in costs due to relative volumes of debris and accessibility of sites). These figures assume an hourly rate of $30 per hour per person rather than volunteer labour. They indicate the high cost of even the most fundamental action to address marine debris and the obvious value in preventing debris entering the ocean.
Table 1: Estimated costs of implementation for selected actions (note that these are not funded actions) Action Costs anticipated at the time of TAP development Estimated total cost over the life of the TAP (generally 10 years) 1.01 Agenda- and action-based meetings of representatives of relevant agencies and organisations (establish a TAP team to coordinate TAP actions for the life of the plan) $50,000 (staff time for coordination / attendance at meetings) $500,000 (coordination of effort and several teleconferences or meetings per year) 1.04 Encourage innovation in recovery and waste treatment technologies $200,000 (consultancy to assess the environmental impact and cost effectiveness of the use of waste-to- energy systems in remote coastal communities and at ports) $200,000 1.05 Improve management of abandoned, lost and discarded fishing gear $150,000 (consultancy / staff time to review Australia’s engagement on abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear in the Asia Pacific region and to determine the appropriateness of current actions) $150,000 3.01. Build understanding related to microplastic pollution (research projects) $1,000,000 (identification of an appropriate suite of indicator species (invertebrate and vertebrate) for long-term monitoring to measure the impact of marine microplastic plastic debris) $10,000,000 (long-term monitoring of impact on indicator species) 4.01 Support clean-up efforts $500,000 per year $5,000,000 4.03 Maintain a national database for long-term marine debris beach survey data (the ALA) and promote standard methods for collecting and ongoing monitoring of beach clean-up debris $100,000 (staff time/ resources for 6 months) $200,000 (annual data maintenance approx. $10,000 per year) Note that substantial volunteer effort on marine debris removal, monitoring and communication has resulted in valuable outcomes for minimal investment. Tangaroa Blue Foundation estimated the real average cost per kilometre of its volunteer-based beach clean-up activities in New South Wales and Queensland (Table 2; note variability in costs due to relative volumes of debris and accessibility of sites). These figures assume an hourly rate of $30 per hour per person rather than volunteer labour. They indicate the high cost of even the most fundamental action to address marine debris and the obvious value in preventing debris entering the ocean.
tap-marine-debris-2018.docx