Thousands of people across Tasmania have been impacted by multiple bushfires, with many losing their homes.

Reports indicate that more than 100 properties have been lost in the fires to date.

The Red Cross has launched an appeal – you can help those in need by donating.

Forty-year-old surf legend Kelly Slater, 11-time World Champion, took his 51st ASP victory in “good as it gets” conditions, duelling twentyseven-year-old Dane Reynolds in the Final of the Quiksilver Pro France.

Tasmanian surfing scientist, Dr. Paul Durack, now based at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, and two other senior Tasmanian-based researchers at Hobart’s CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Labs have Today published in the journal Science new findings on the impact of climate change on patterns of salinity in the global ocean.

These new results show the ocean fingerprints of Climate Change impacts on the water cycle that are much harder to spot in terrestrial data. The work indicates that climate model estimates of water cycle intensification may actually be conservative and shows a “rich get richer” dynamic with wet regions becoming wetter and dry regions becoming drier.

The published observations have potential implications on food security and agriculture, extreme weather like floods and droughts, and the future of urban planning. According to lead author, Dr. Durack it is “another piece of independent evidence that we need to start taking the problem of global warming seriously.”

From here these fresh findings on a salty subject will face further scrutiny and corroboration across the scientific community.

Editors note: Dr. Durack has been a key partner in the CoastView team since 2006.

Dr. Durack directly tests the salinity of Bass Strait waters.

sally – first glimpse from TREWEEK & DAMEN MEDIA on Vimeo.

Editor’s note: It’s been a while since I’ve been remotely excited about the production values of a surf-culture film with some Tasmanian flavour – looking forward to the release. – Thomas

Marine litter is a global issue but one that can be effectively tackled on a local scale. Whether its plastics entering the food chain and the destructive consequences this can have (Over 100,000 marine mammals and over 1 million seabirds die every year from ingestion of and entanglement in marine litter) or broken glass and metal on the beaches where children play. The sight of man-made objects such as cigarette butts and plastic bottles on our beaches should not be the norm it has become.

Environment Tasmania and Surfrider are currently running a series of beach cleans across the eastern shore of Hobart and the surrounding area. The hope is that through these events not only will we be tackling the issue head on by cleaning beaches – and getting a swim or a surf hopefully as well – but this can also be a useful educational and public engagement tool. The data collected can be fed into the national database and we will be able to determine where most of our marine litter turns up, how much there is compared to previously and what the most common items are. These statistics will be vital in engaging the public, changing their attitude and behaviour when it comes to litter and it’s impact on our coast and oceans.

The fourth in our program of beach clean-ups is set to happen on Saturday the 21st of April at Little Howrah Beach.  It will kick-off at about 1pm and last for an hour or two. Some snacks and nibbles will be supplied to willing volunteers as well as first dibs on any treasure. So if you’re free and able to lend a hand come along, bring your friends, bring your neighbours and help clean up our coast!

ThomasMoorePhotography.com

Marine litter is a global issue but one that can be effectively tackled on a local scale. Whether its plastics entering the food chain and the destructive consequences this can have (Over 100,000 marine mammals and over 1 million seabirds die every year from ingestion of and entanglement in marine litter) or broken glass and metal on the beaches where children play. The sight of man-made objects such as cigarette butts and plastic bottles on our beaches should not be the norm it has become.

Environment Tasmania and Surfrider are currently running a series of beach cleans across the eastern shore of Hobart and the surrounding area. The hope is that through these events not only will we be tackling the issue head on by cleaning beaches – and getting a swim or a surf hopefully as well – but this can also be a useful educational and public engagement tool. The data collected can be fed into the national database and we will be able to determine where most of our marine litter turns up, how much there is compared to previously and what the most common items are. These statistics will be vital in engaging the public, changing their attitude and behaviour when it comes to litter and it’s impact on our coast and oceans.

The third in our program of beach clean-ups is set to happen on Saturday the 31st of March at Primrose Sands.  It will kick-off at about 1pm and last for an hour or two. Some snacks and nibbles will be supplied to willing volunteers as well as first dibs on any treasure. So if you’re free and able to lend a hand come along, bring your friends, bring your neighbours and help clean up our coast!

Anyone and everyone are welcome to join in cleaning up our Tasmanian coast. So if you enjoy the perks of living on the coast and don’t mind getting your hands dirty, why not come and get involved with one of our events?

For more information regarding Sundays event and upcoming future events visit and ‘like’ our Facebook page at: http://on.fb.me/OurTasCoast , visit our webpage: http://www.ourtasmaniancoast.org , or sign-up to become a coastal champion here: http://bit.ly/JoinCoastalChamps .

Our coast needs your care.

you can download the event poster to share or print here:

PDF poster - http://www.ourtasmaniancoast.org/promo/OTC_cleanup_26022012_v04.jpg
JPG poster - http://www.ourtasmaniancoast.org/promo/OTC_cleanup_26022012_v04.pdf