MARINE DISCOVERY

SERIES – Talk 1

Thursday

8 September 2011 @ 7pm At Community Hall, The Place,

Charlestown Square, off Frederick Street (see attached map for details)

OCCI is a local volunteer group whose aim is to increase local community awareness about coastal and marine environmental issues. The OCCI Lake Macquarie-Newcastle Arm does this through interactive community displays excursions, workshops, and projects in the Lake Macquarie and Newcastle area.

Through an Australian Government Community Action Grant, we are proud to present our 2011 OCCI LMN Marine Discovery Series

- a series of three talks with local experts presenting on coastal and marine issues.

LAKE MACQUARIE -NEWCASTLE ARM

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A few months ago, Environmentalist and co-founder of Take 3, Tim Silverwood demonstrated - by showing the film ’Bag It’ - how plastic is consuming our lives, and our marine ecosystems. Then In July, Tim sailed from Hawaii to Vancouver to research plastic pollution in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a huge plastic 'soup' twice the size of France

thought to contain over 100 million tonnes of waste. Tim’s back and he will tell us of his experience on the sailing

trip, visiting the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, and what he discovered along the way.

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Internationally published and award winning Justin Gilligan is a freelance underwater photographer, as well as a local NSW

Fisheries Technician.

Australia’s endemic fishes with small populations are among the most vulnerable species to extinction. Through a research project, the extinction risk of marine fishes endemic to the Lord Howe Island region was assessed by diver surveys. The results were to determine the distribution, abundance and habitat

associations of fishes endemic to the region.

As well as the research findings, Justin’s photographs were also published as a 10-page spread by Australian Geographic

magazine (Issue 96). For all the budding photographers, Justin

will also discuss his dealings with the magazine.

Photographs courtesy of Tim Silverwood & Justin Gilligan

Contact OCCI LMN at: occi_lmn@live.com.au

The next Marine Discovery Talk is on Thursday 13th October at Caves Beach Hotel @ 7pm