A new study analysing more than 5,000 surveys across 94 countries, including Australia, found plastic food & drink packaging is the world's most common coastal pollution. The Aus Govt must pass the strong national packaging laws that they promised three years ago. 🌏 📷 Plastic pollution in the NT.

🎂 100 today! Sir David has long been a voice for the world’s oceans. In his 2025 film he says: “If we save the sea, we save our world… I’m sure that nothing is more important”. To save the sea, we must protect it. The best way to protect the ocean is through strong marine sanctuaries.

And to save the sea, we must protect it. 🎂🌊This week Sir David turns 100! His recent film shows the power of marine sanctuaries: “The ocean can bounce back to life. If left alone it may not just recover but thrive beyond anything anyone alive has ever seen." 📷 ‘Ocean with David Attenborough’

Sir David Attenborough turns 100 this week! 🎂 In his recent film he said: “After living for nearly a hundred years on this planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea”.🌊 Help protect Australia’s ocean: https://bit.ly/4qns6VD 📷 ‘Ocean w David Attenborough’

🪸🌊Tiny coral larvae drift across the open ocean. They seed and rebuild reefs. New research shows only a handful of coral reefs, like those at Lord Howe Island, act as stepping stones. Lose them, and the system unravels. A strong, connected network of fully protected marine sanctuaries matters.

🛰️🌊🪸 Marine scientists figured out a way to see through murky, sediment-rich water by layering 200 images together. The project reveals northern Australia has a similar number of reefs to the GBR, though many are much smaller. It’s a reminder of how extraordinary marine life is across northern Aus.

If you’re in the NT, add your name to call for money to be allocated in the upcoming budget to progress the gillnet phase out. https://www.marineconservation.org.au/actions/protect-from-gillnets/

The NT Government recently wound back its commitment to camera monitoring on commercial gillnet vessels. That means 80% of fishing activity will go unrecorded during the final phase of the gillnet fishery, putting endangered sawfish at unnecessary & unacceptable risk. www.forbes.com/sites/meliss...

“One summer, I worked with sea turtles in Cyprus. One of the nesting sites I was monitoring was late hatching, so we decided to excavate the top of the nest to see why. What I saw next broke my heart”. Read the full story by sustainable materials research scientist Dr Eleanor Mullen. 📜🐢👇

Happy Earth Day 🌊

Australia's 2 largest supermarkets face mounting scrutiny over their continued sourcing of Atlantic salmon from Macquarie Harbour, where salmon farming is hurtling the skate towards extinction, Instead of acting, Coles & Woolies are having quiet chats about how to manage the PR.

The Aus Gov has committed globally to protecting critical shark & ray habitat. Our Maugean skate is found nowhere else on Earth & on the brink of extinction because of salmon farming. Tag Environment Minister Murray Watt, urging him to list Macquarie Harbour as critical habitat.

Nearly two years ago the NT government committed to phasing out commercial barramundi gillnets from Territory waters. It was a significant boost for the future of the Top End’s fishing lifestyle, threatened wildlife, and tourism opportunities.

Seismic blasting is still allowed inside about half of Australia’s offshore marine parks! Please sign and share our new petition to support keeping seismic blasting out of Australian Marine Parks and strengthening the protection of our offshore ocean: https://bit.ly/47Ztffb 👈🚫💥🌊🐋🐠🪸

🐙🦀🦈⭐🐡 All of these amazing critters were found during a CSIRO voyage in Australia's Coral Sea Marine Park, far off the east coast of Queensland. Large areas they visited had never been studied like this before. More than 110 new species were found during the voyage! 📷 Images and IDs via CSIRO.

Our planet is about 70% ocean. It regulates the climate, provides us with oxygen and food, and is a vital part of cultures around the world. We must protect it. 🌏🌊 "No water, no life. No blue, no green". – Dr. Sylvia Earl "If we save the sea, we save our world". – Sir David Attenborough. 📷 NASA

“Before the advent of cheap, single-use take away packaging, legend has it that Australian families used to bring saucepans to their local Chinese restaurant". We’re calling for the Aus Gov't to introduce new packaging laws that make producers responsible, support reuse & ban wasteful packaging.

This Easter, we're on the hunt for something more elusive than a hidden egg: a commitment from Coles and Woolies to stop selling farmed salmon from Macquarie Harbour.

#BREAKING: Let’s go!!! This one is huge 😍💙🌊 The Aus Govt just ratified the High Seas Treaty! Australia becomes the 88th country to ratify this momentous treaty to help protect our ocean, with many more countries committed. 🌏The high seas are the waters that lie beyond the boundaries of any nation.

The full letter is signed by: Greenpeace Australia, PACT Group, WWF-Australia, MECCA, Plastic Free Foundation, Re.Group, TOMRA, Boomerang Alliance, Phantm, AMCS, Doctors for the Environment Australia, Clean Up Australia, Take 3 for the Sea, Charopy, Skipper, and WOSUP.🙌🌊 You can read it on our site!

The NSW Govt detected microplastics in all 120 waterways that it tested along the state's coast, including rivers, lagoons and harbours. 🚣 It’s critical that Australia’s federal and state governments take urgent action to cut plastic pollution at the source. 📷 NSW EPA

Australia’s Environment Minister has confirmed his commitment to increasing the protection of our ocean.🌊 Ocean protection is about more than hitting a target. We need science-based marine sanctuaries protecting all of Australia’s ocean habitats, including deep sea canyons, seamounts & rocky reefs.

Microplastics in shark eggs!? Until now, it was assumed these microplastics were ingested later in life… not before a shark was even ‘born’.” Sharks are already under pressure from overfishing, habitat loss and climate change — now plastic pollution is increasing the risk from day one.

In the last 3 weeks: Documents released under Freedom of Information revealed that the federal government ignored scientific evidence, & Australian nature laws were weakened to allow salmon farming in Macquarie Harbour to continue. Our new video on the harbour: youtu.be/e_xHl_gYV9I?...

The Australian Government ignored the science, will Coles and Woolies keep their heads in the sand and continue selling farmed Atlantic salmon from Macquarie Harbour?

A coalition of 80+ environmental organisations spent years fighting efforts to gut Australia's national nature laws. Alexia Wellbelove of @marineconservation.org.au narrates how their sustained, united advocacy achieved historic reforms in this new blog ⤵️

🐨⚖️ Corporate lobbying almost killed reform of Australia's nature laws at the last minute. Alexia Wellbelove of @marineconservation.org.au discusses how post-election political realignment and sharp teamwork brought it back from the brink ⤵️

It's Clean Up Australia Day! Our teams in Brisbane & Melbourne have been out on clean ups. We collected thousands of pieces of litter. Most items were plastic, including cigarette butts, balloons, bottles, disposable coffee cups, takeaway food containers, and lots of small fragments.

That's an area more than three times the size of Sydney Harbour! The NT government is expanding Limmen Bight Marine Park by 185km2, including seagrass meadows where dugongs feed and fish breed. Now they need to hear from you. Please show your support by sharing this post! 🌊🌊 📷 (A)manda Parkinson

NOAA’s satellite data shows parts of Northern GBR experiencing above average sea surface temps and are now on Alert Level 1, which means coral bleaching is expected. Central and southern regions are at lower warning levels but still experiencing low and accumulating heat stress.

Deadly H5N1 bird flu has been detected in gentoo penguins on the remote Australian territory. 💔🐧 🌏 Aus is the last continent that the strain hasn't reached...yet. Concerningly, Heard Island has species that could migrate and spread the virus to mainland Aus. Take action: https://bit.ly/4amwIWO 👈📝

Good news thread: Important shark and ray areas (ISRA’s) have now been identified in Australian waters, amounting to a total area slightly larger than Iceland or 15 million soccer fields!* *excludes overlapping ‘movement’ ISRAs

The Aus Govt introduced legislation into parliament yesterday that, if passed, will ratify the High Seas Treaty. 🥳🎉 🌊We urge all federal Senators and MPs to support ratification to protect marine life in international waters, including Aus marine life that travels back and forth across our borders.

A new AUSMAP report found average microplastic levels in Sydney waterways have jumped to 1,004 microplastics/m2. The NSW Govt recently released plans to phase out many single-use plastics and begin supporting some reuse programs. The new results show how much work there still is to do.

The more plastic that gets produced, the more plastic ends up polluting our environment. 🌊 To keep our ocean and beaches healthy, Australian state and federal governments must progress bans on single-use plastics and invest in reuse programs.

The high seas cover international waters beyond any country’s borders. 🗓️The treaty reached 60 ratifying countries last Sept, triggering a 120 day count down to it taking effect. That date was 17 January 2026, meaning the High Seas Treaty is now in force! Australia has signed but not yet ratified.🌏

Artwork: Freeda Roberts, Saltwater Dunghutti artist from South West Rocks.

Our condolences go out to those affected by the recent shark bites in NSW.

Happy holidays from our team 💙

The underwater mountain is about 3,000km tall – that's taller than Mt Kosciuszko! 🌊🗻 The top of the 'collapsed crème caramel' pinnacle is reportedly around 30 metres under the surface. It supports a mesophotic coral reef that was only discovered by CSIRO scientists recently. 📷CSIRO.

🪸🌊🗻 The new reef sits on the pinnacle of an underwater mountain about 930km from the Aus mainland. The area is in the Coral Sea Marine Park. Add your name to support increased marine sanctuary protection during the upcoming review of Australia's marine park network: https://bit.ly/4qns6VD 📷CSIRO

#BREAKING: The Aus Govt has finally announced an extension to the Ghost Nets Initiative! The project, run by Parks Australia, supports Indigenous Rangers and supporting organisations to detect and remove ghost nets and other plastic pollution from remote coastlines in north Aus. 📷 by Emily Vines

This is what a normal day looks like in parts Northeast Arnhem Land 💔 ⚠️ Yet, Indigenous Rangers across the top end are still left in the lurch about whether or not their clean-up efforts will be funded! The Aust Govt must urgently commit to funding the Ghost Nets Initiative in full.

This week, we joined over 160 civil society organisations calling for strong leadership for the next phase of Global Plastics Treaty negotiations. Read the full letter: https://www.plasticstreaty.org/inc-chair-cso-letter/ ✉️

Last month, SA announced the marine sanctuary at Seal Bay, Kangaroo Island, will now be 20 sq km bigger, protecting breeding & feeding grounds for endangered Aus sea lions. 🦭 Thanks to all the AMCS and TWiS supporters who took action earlier this year to support strong marine sanctuary expansions.

A new report finds global plastic pollution will DOUBLE by 2040 without urgent, transformational action. But if govts & companies act immediately, plastic pollution can be cut by 83% by 2040. The Aus Govt must deliver promised packaging reform & continue pushing for a strong Global Plastics Treaty.

This is the impact you can have! Throughout 2025, hundreds of you helped collect data in supermarkets across Australia. The results made national headlines, spotlighting the changes needed to supermarkets’ use of disposable plastics. https://bit.ly/48kbIxs

Seen brilliant reusable packaging in Australia that deserves some recognition? Nominate it for the #UnpackitAwards now: unpackit.org.au 👈🏆⭐

It’s time for the federal government to step up and deliver its promised reform to packaging legislation. Get the full scoop on the results of our recent investigation into supermarket plastic use, featured in this article, by RSVP’ing to today's webinar: https://events.humanitix.com/unwrapped-2025

Cip Hamilton, our Plastics Campaign Manager, recently walked through a major supermarket with one of Australia’s leading newspapers. They saw cobs of corn placed on a hard plastic tray wrapped in soft plastic and all sorts of other disposable packaging destined for the bin as soon as it’s opened.