Adopt-a-Coast™ (Not available in 2021)

‘Adopt-a-Coast’ is a practical project aimed at schools, community groups, families, and even individuals. Adopt-a-Coast lets you ‘adopt’ a part of your favourite beach so that you become responsible for keeping it clean and collecting data on what you find during regular clean-ups. ‘Adopt-a-Coast’ can be done as a group field trip or a family weekend trip, or even during your regular beach walk. ‘Adopt-a-Coast is a fun and interactive way to learn more about pollution, conservation, and seashore life.

Click here to download our brochure

What is involved in Adopt-a-Coast?

By “adopting a coast”, you take the responsibility of visiting your chosen beach regularly throughout the year. During your visit, you carry out a clean-up where you collect trash along the coast, and record data on the types of trash collected. Recorded data can then be entered on the Adopt-a-Coast Web Application where you can keep track of your clean-ups or join other clean-ups, and earn achievement medals.

Optional Citizen Science:

If you want to add extra citizen science data collection, we recommend using the University of Otago’s ‘Marine Metre Squared’ citizen science initiative to find out what plants and animals are living in the intertidal zone of the beach. ‘Marine Metre Squared’ makes it easy for everyone to monitor seashore life, and to upload your collected information to their national database. See below for more information on ‘Marine Metre Squared’.

Marine Metre Squared

Marine Metre Squared is an easy way for anyone to survey the plants and animals living on their local seashore using a simple quadrat sampling method and visual identification guides.

Visit the Marine Metre Squared website and register your group for Marine Metre Squared, and access the free resources for monitoring your adopted coast.

Pollution in our Oceans

One of the biggest issues facing our oceans and coasts is pollution. An estimated 4.8 to 12.7 million metric tons of plastic entered the ocean in 2010 from people living within 50 kilometres of the coast in 192 countries. Plastic pollution has a direct effect on coastal and marine wildlife. Thousands of marine animals are killed each year as they mistake floating plastics for food or they become entangled in it.

A majority of the plastic in our oceans is so small that we can’t see it. Big pieces of plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces until they become just the right size for things like plankton and other filter feeders to consume. Filter feeders include animals like cockles, pipi, and barnacles that are commonly found on our coast. Once plastic enters the food chain through the filter feeders, it works its way up the chain as larger animals eat the smaller ones.

We can all make a difference by reducing the amount of waste we produce each day, by recycling and reusing where possible, and by cleaning up our environment.

Do you want to Adopt-a-Coast?

There are plenty of coastal areas around the country waiting to be adopted by your school or community group. It can be rocky shore beaches or sandy and muddy shore beaches, so if you are interested in joining the Adopt-a-Coast project and helping to keep our coasts clean and monitored, get in touch with our team to get started. Register now and adopt your own coast, keep track of your clean-ups, join other clean-ups, and earn achievement medals.

Resources

Download a Waste Audit Data Sheet to record information on what is found during your clean-up and upload it to the Adopt-a-Coast Web Application.

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