Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L01047:reg:27:p2
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2018L01047
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 27 (pt 2/5)
Character Range: 87758–92796

plastic (for example in sewage treatment)                                                                                                A determination on whether organisms present in the marine environment could be manipulated to address accumulations of plastic                                                            NESP Marine Biodiversity Hub

Objective 4: Monitor the quantities, origins and hazardous chemical contaminants of marine debris and assess the effectiveness of management arrangements for reducing marine debris

Data collection, management and access are crucial in improving marine debris outcomes. Rigorous data from clean-up efforts can reveal patterns in debris items and sources, enabling the implementation of source reduction plans (such as those developed under the Australian Marine Debris Initiative) and aiding in the identification of cost-effective actions. This is especially the case when clean-up data is combined with other relevant data sources (e.g. oceanographic information).
The Atlas of Living Australia provides free online access to a repository of information about Australia's biodiversity. This infrastructure can potentially support organisations in aggregating data from other domains and could be a means of bringing together and maintaining existing marine debris datasets, should they be made available.
International Pellet Watch is a volunteer-based global monitoring program for persistent organic pollutants found on plastic resin pellets. These resin pellets are industrial feedstock of plastic products and can be spilled into the environment during production, packaging and transportation. They are ubiquitous in the marine environment and on beaches. Resin pellets are persistent in the environment and hydrophobic, which allows sorption of hydrophobic organic pollutants, including persistent organic pollutants, from the surrounding environment. Continuous monitoring of persistent organic pollutants is important for understanding of pollution status, pollutant fates, and the effectiveness of regulation and remediation (Yeo et al., 2015).
Understanding of the potential impacts of microplastic chemical contamination is developing. For example, laboratory experiments have found that a form of flame retardant with potential to persist in the environment (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) accumulated in tissue after fish ate contaminated microbeads sourced from facial soaps (Wardrop et al., 2016).

         30  /  Threat Abatement Plan

 Actions for Objective 4: Monitor the quantities, origins and hazardous chemical contaminants of marine debris and assess the effectiveness of management arrangements to reduce debris

Action                                                                                                                                                                       Priority/timeframe                                            Output                                                                                                                                                                                                          Outcome                                                                                                                                                               Responsibility
4.01 Continue collection of data in long-term beach surveys                                                                                                                  Ongoing for the life of the plan                              Long-term datasets of beach survey sites                                                                                                                                                                        Long-term monitoring of the state of the threat (relevant to this TAP, State of the Environment reporting and for efforts such as the Australian Packaging Covenant)  CSIRO, non-government organisations, volunteers

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Improved ability to conduct source reduction planning
4.02 Develop a nationally consistent monitoring system for land-based plastic pollution                                                                                      High priority—within 2 years of the TAP entering into effect  Standardised and cost-effective methods for sampling land-based plastic pollution                                                                                                                               Nationally consistent long-term monitoring of land-based plastic pollution responses to