Eco Barge attracts national interest

ECO BARGE Clean Seas founder Libby Edge met with World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Coca-Cola South Pacific and Catchment Solutions (Reef Catchments) on Thursday to discuss all things turtles and Eco Barge.

The entourage, which was made up of WWF CEO Dermot O’Gorman, national project coordinator Ian McConnell, Coca-Cola South Pacific CEO Roberto Mercale and Reef Catchments senior project consultant Rob Eccles, visited Bloomsbury cane farmer Scott Simpson before meeting with Ms Edge at Eco Barge HQ in Jubilee Pocket.

All three organisations are partners in Project Catalyst, an initiative that strives to reduce the nutrient, fertiliser and pollutant run-off on the Great Barrier Reef. Ms Edge said Thursday was an interesting day for the national visitors as the Whitsunday Turtle Rescue Centre was hosting students from James Cook University who were examining deceased turtles to understand why they had died.

Ms Edge then took the men on a tour of the rescue centre and briefed them on the Whitsunday Marine Debris Removal Program.

Coca-Cola South Pacific CEO Roberto Mercale looked on in awe and said he had great admiration for Ms Edge. “I like turtles and I like seeing such a young woman making a change – you can see the passion in her eyes,” he said.

Ms Edge said to date they have removed over 120 tonne of debris in the Whitsundays. On Friday the men travelled to Bowen to visit a turtle project WWF had been involved in for nearly 10 years.

WWF CEO Dermot O’Gorman said the project monitors turtle health and population size in the Bowen region and that they looked forward to assessing its developments.