Funding to manage and clean up marine debris in the Great Barrier Reef 

Providing innovative and targeted investment in the Great Barrier Reef to manage and reduce the impact of marine debris and help restore the health and protection of marine species and coastal ecosystems.

The Great Barrier Reef Marine Debris Management and Mitigation grant opportunity (the program) will run over 7 years from 2023-24 to 2029-30 across two rounds. 

Marine debris has been identified as a significant risk to the Great Barrier Reef’s ecosystem and is considered a key threat to the Reef region’s values. Marine debris is defined as ‘manufactured material discarded, disposed of or abandoned in the marine and coastal environment (including discarded fishing gear and plastics)’.

The objectives of the program are to:

• manage and reduce the threat of marine debris to species such as coral, turtles, dugongs and seabirds
• mitigate negative impacts on tourism, recreation and fishing (commercial and recreational) within the Great Barrier Reef
• develop targeted education and awareness raising activities to prevent litter from entering Great Barrier Reef waterways
• encourage greater community participation and involvement, including with First Nations peoples
• inform and contribute to wider plastic management and mitigation strategic policy for state and/or national scale implementation.

The intended outcomes of the program are to:

• expand efforts to remove more plastic from the marine and coastal environment
• accelerate action to reduce the threat of marine debris to the Reef and its iconic species
• contribute to the collection of debris data over time to inform trends, reporting and strategy development.