Richmond River Pollution & Solutions

Let's show the Richmond River some love! 

On July 13 Dolphin Research Australia and Ozfish Unlimited are inviting you to join us in Ballina to give a little bit back to our local river system. The river provides a backdrop to so many activities we love - a home for dolphins, a nursery for fish, and a playground for marine recreation, but it needs our help. Join us from 9am to clean the riverbanks and shores, document our findings, and then workshop how we can all be part of restoring and regenerating our waterway. We'll be joined by amazing local scientists and organisations who are actively working in this space for a fun day of giving back to this place that gives us so much. 

The Plan

900 - 1100: Clean Up (Boat Harbour, Ballina) - Meet us at the river to grab your clean up gear and head out to collect some trash

1100 - 1130: Trash Audit (Boat Harbour, Ballina) - We'll sort and document the trash, adding valuable data on what we find to global databases

1200 - 1300: BBQ Lunch for Clean Up Crew - Join us at the Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue Centre for a free lunch

1300 - 1500: Pollution & Solutions Workshop (Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue Centre) - Learn more about the problems facing Richmond River with presentations from awesome local scientists like Amanda Reichelt-Brushett and Kirsten Benkendorff, and the solutions currently underway in our community with organisations such as Ozfish and Richmond Riverkeeper. There'll be time for a Q&A, and we'll end the day by pledging to each enact our own solution in the future. 

Meeting Point for the Cleanup (9am) - Boat Harbour, Boat Harbour Road, West Ballina (here's a link to GoogleMaps). 
Meeting Point for the Workshop (from 1pm) - Australian Seabird & Turtle Rescue, 264 N Creek Rd, Ballina(here's a link to GoogleMaps).

Our Unhealthiest River?

In 2023 the Richmond River was rated C- in overall ecological health and in 2024 a cocktail of pesticides were detected - many illegal and harmful. It all started with logging and land clearing about 150 years ago, but more recently there's been severe floods, erosion, micro and macro plastic pollution and agricultural & urban runoff resulting in poor water quality and a severely degraded river ecosystem. So now it's up to us to show our river some love and do what we can to tackle the problems its facing. An easy place to start is clearing out some of the trash, contributing important data about plastic pollution sources, learning more about the threats, and becoming a champion for the Richmond River into the future. 

Learn From The Experts

There are lots of amazing people working on the ground to learn more about the problems facing the Richmond, and organisations running grassroots community actions to regenerate and restore the river. Our workshop will feature presentations from scientists such as Amanda Reichelt-Brushett (a strong advocate for the Richmond, and a researcher who focuses on contaminants in our environment), Kirsten Benkendorff (a researcher who focuses on molluscs, oyster-lover, and 2023 Superstar of STEM), local not for profit organization Ozfish Unlimited (dedicated to restoring fish habitats), local champions working to restore a healthy river Richmond Riverkeepers, and from us about our Healthy Waterways-Healthy Dolphins project.

Why Join Us? 

• Feel good about helping out our local environment 
• Protect our marine park and Nguthungulli / Julian Rocks - this river flows straight into the Cape Byron Marine Park 
• Learn more about local research from scientists who are on the ground
• Get a greater understanding of how local organisations are tackling the pollution problems, and how you fit in
• Help protect the Byron Bay Hope Spot
• Free lunch! 
• Prizes! 

This is organised by Dolphin Research Australia with the support of Patagonia's 1% for the Planet program, in partnership with Ozfish Unlimited through their Keep It Clean campaign.

Huge thanks also to Splendour in the Grass Festival for funding part of this event via FEAT's Solar Slice. The ‘Solar Slice’ is a ticketing surcharge that goes directly to funding industry and community climate and environmental initiatives. You can check out more of their projects HERE.