Original story by William Rollo, ABC News
Central Queensland researchers say a new study on marine debris shows items washed out by floods travel in the opposite direction to garbage dumped at sea.
Debris at Blunder Road in Oxley following the 2011 floods in Queensland. Photo: Bill Vo/news.com.au
Researchers at CQUniversity have been monitoring data from GPS-like tracking devices that have been floating on the ocean inside plastic bottles.
They are trying to find out where rubbish dumped in the Coral Sea ends up.
Researcher Scott Wilson from CQUniversity’s Centre for Environmental Management in Gladstone says it usually floats north.
“Trackers around the Whitsunday area ended up north of Cooktown,” he said.
However, he says when fast-flowing rivers are discharging floodwater, debris is pushed outside of the Great Barrier Reef where it floats south and can wash up on shores as far away as South America.
“If it gets out through the reef then it’s likely to move south with the east Australian current,” he said.
“I’ve seen whole couches wash up, fridges, TVs, you name it.”
He says larger items usually wash up on high spring tides.
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