23rd March 2023

Environment Tasmania is launching a brand new Community Survey asking Tasmanians about their connection to the ocean and how they enjoy their time on the coasts. Questions will include what is their favourite marine animal and how often do they visit the coast or marine environment. Others will nut down more into the issues that they see, and what possible solutions we might seek as a community. The survey will run for 6 months until September 2023. Environment Tasmania will use the results to inform their marine campaign work for healthy oceans in Tasmania.

“We know that Tasmanians are deeply connected with the ocean and that there is a unique coastal lifestyle here that we’re very lucky to have. Fishing, swimming, snorkeling, diving, surfing and boating are a huge part of the Tasmanian way of life. We want to find out how important clean and healthy oceans and coasts are to Tasmanians and what are the issues that they are seeing day to day.” says Rebecca Howarth, Marine Campaigner for Environment Tasmania.

“There has been a worrying decline in Tassie’s marine environment in recent years and we know that Tasmanians that are out on the water every day are noticing it too. We really value the insights from the wider community so have decided to launch a survey in order to record these insights. When it comes to ocean health, there is innate wisdom in the Tasmanian community and we are ready to listen and work collaboratively.”

“Tomorrow is Earth Day, and this year folks are being encouraged to spend just one hour doing ANYTHING POSITIVE for the environment. We want to encourage everyone to do our quick 5-minute community survey for healthy oceans, and then get yourselves down to the BIG Weekend of Sustainable Living Ideas at the Brighton Civic Centre to discover what else you can do. We’ll be there at our stall with the new survey. Hope to see you there.”