Cleana Marina Fundraiser

Southern Ocean Environmental Link (SOEL) is a registered charity dedicated to protecting our marine environments and their inhabitants.

While sitting at the water’s edge, casually eating lunch, a stunned SOEL crew member watched in as an older boat unknowingly spilled marine contaminants straight into the water.

This occurred in our local marina, which is not only the home of SOEL headquarters but a location rich in biodiversity and marine life. Although shocking, this is sadly not a rare incident in harbours and marinas around the world.

Our team regularly arrives at work, only to find marine debris such as cigarette butts, fishing lines, and hair ties floating throughout the harbour.

This debris is incredibly harmful to both wildlife and humans, resulting in damage to the environment, and to economic structures worldwide. After looking into what we could do to keep our Marina clean we were upset to find no viable solution.

The incident sparked concern, discussion, research and even triggered an enquiry about what we can do to prevent incredibly harmful marine pollution in our local marina and those across the country.

After investigating the existing options for keeping our Marina clean and safe we were devastated to find no viable solution was currently available on the market.

As an organisation motivated to deliver change SOEL got to work, and has developed a prototype -

Harbour Filter Model 1:

This concept, borrowed from the bilge of our vessel, has enabled SOEL to collect polluted water from the marina, remove the floating contaminants, and then pump clean water back into the marina. The Harbour Filter prototype is currently sitting in our birth at Queenscliff Harbour, being monitored and reported on regularly.

Throughout the trial stage, our team started to notice excess engine oils and contaminants were also being collected in the Harbour Filter.

The world standard (including our own) to clean up marine oil involves using absorbent pads made up of Type 5 Plastic (PP). Like all plastic, PP is non-biodegradable. Hair, by contrast, is an environmentally friendly resource that can soak up to 6 times its weight in oil.

It works by drawing in oil, detergents, and plastics through the filter. Once inside these pollutants are soaked up with a marine-grade pollution pad and then discarded when full. The water is then filtered and pumped back into the harbour through the outlet.

This is why SOEL will be working with local salons to replace our current pads with biodegradable ‘hair booms’. The hair booms can soak up to 6 X their weight in oil and leave no environmental impact.

Through trial and error, we have learnt a lot from our prototype and are now ready to improve our design to improve functionality and user experience.

This will include a larger pump and filtration system, a removable filter cage for marine plastics and start an investigation into an off-grid power system.

But we need your help…

SOEL’s projects and initiatives run entirely on generous donations and our environmental levy.

All donations to this fundraiser will go towards the growth of the Harbour Filter System, and work to make this a viable, accessible, and affordable solution for marinas across the country.

Please join us and help make a difference in our oceans, every donation will help!!

https://soel.org.au/harbour-filter/

Explore our other Projects

https://soel.org.au/