Coastal Program

2013

The Coastal Community Engagement Program (CCEP) is a joint initiative between the City of Gold Coast and Griffith Centre for Coastal Management (GCCM). The program was founded in 2001 to enhance the capacity of the Gold Coast community to participate in coastal community engagement activities and coastal decision-making processes.

2013 has been an exciting year for the Coastal Community Engagement Program at Griffith Centre for Coastal Management. We have seen growth in community volunteers, education participation rates and an uptake of our suite of coastal education resources. Media coverage has additionally increased, which has enhanced outreach capacity. New partnerships have self-seeded due to the increased awareness and has further attracted new funding opportunities and corporate sponsorship and support.

The Gold Coast community has largely contributed to such successes. The continual dedication and volunteered efforts in keeping Gold Coast dunes healthy and the beaches clean was nationally recognised with winning Keep Australia Beautiful’s Cleanest Beach competition for Currumbin Beach. Over 40 stakeholders were engaged in the process, indicating our capacity to effectively engage and collaborate to promote the diverse efforts invested in managing Gold Coast’s beaches.

Without the support of our friends in the commuity, the City of Gold Coast, Griffith University and supporting environmental organisations and businesses, we would not have been able to achieve the many successes of 2013.

To celebrate such achievements we have prepared a bite size version of our 1st July - 31st December 2013 progress report. For more information please don’t hesitate in contacting us.

Many thanks

Naomi Edwards and Joe l Hayes

For the second year running, Gold Coast received national recognition for the cleanest beaches with Currumbin Beach being awarded Australia’s Cleanest Beach for 2013. It is a huge achievement for CCEP and in particular the many individuals, groups and organisations who actively take part in caring for Gold Coast’s beaches. Over 40 stakeholders were engaged in the national judging process, and Naomi Edwards and Joel Hayes who coordinated the nomination and judging were fortunate to travel to Western Australia to receive the award on behalf of the community, Griffith University and the City of Gold Coast. The national trophy is currently touring the Currumbin area. The win has been heavily reported in the media, see photos and finalist poster below. For more information on the award please visit - griffith.edu.au/coastal-management.

2013/14 competition - Thirteen nominations were prepared, with Burleigh Beach and the southern beaches between Snapper Rocks and North Kirra listed to possibly be awarded with a State category award. Judging was completed on 17th December, outcomes will be notified in the new year.

Community involvement: For the six-month period between July to December 2013 a total of 20 sessions with an average participation rate of 17 individuals per event (total participation was 333) were facilitated. The highest average rate of participation was at Labrador with 47hrs/event, which is a direct result of the partnerships with Bond University, Labrador Guides and Griffith University. The lowest average participation rate was at Rainbow Bay with 9.5hrs/event. This was largely due to holding the events on a Friday rather than a Saturday, which will be changed to a Saturday as of January 2014 to increase participation rates and support further engagement with Friends of Rainbow Bay.

Dunes care sites: Despite the dry period throughout spring, all sites are establishing well. Maintenance of a few sites in regards to weed levels may be an issue in the second reporting period of the financial year; however this is not expected to be beyond the capacity of BeachCare volunteers. There has been an emphasis of planting at all BeachCare sites to increase the diversity and structure of the dunes especially sites with this lacking. All site works are within the scope of the Work Action Plans, which are reviewed on an annual basis and approved by the City of Gold Coast Technical Foreshore Officer.

Approx: 50 large bags of litter collected, 300kg of weeds removed & 1150 native

dune plants planted.

Partners:• Bleach* Festival • Bond University Student Philanthropy Council• City of Gold Coast: Natural Areas Management Unit, Engineering Services, Communications, City Cleaning, Lifeguards Services, Local Councillors• Currumbin Vikings SLSC• Currumbin RSL• Friends of Currumbin• Friends of Rainbow Bay Society• Gecko• Gold Coast Catchments Association• Gold Coast Volunteering• Griffith Centre for Coastal Management • Griffith University – Student Linx program• Keep Australia Beautiful & Keep Queensland Beautiful• Keep It Surreal• Kirra Kite Festival• Landcare Australia• Local community members• Quicksilver Foundation• Surfrider Foundation Gold Coast Tweed• SEQ Catchments• Secondary schools• Tangaroa Blue Foundation• Yeskandoo

Key highlights:

+ Continued involvement with Griffith University Student Linx program + Presented a poster at the Queensland Coastal Conference+ Secured additional funding from Landcare Australia and facilitated corporate volunteer days+ Established a partnership with Bond University Student Philanthropic Council+ Launched the Building Dunes for the Commuity and the Coast: a how to guide for dune management

Beachology Beachology opens the opportunities for children aged between 3-16 to become a ‘Beachologist’ by learning about Beach Ecology - though adults love the activities too!

Beachology was invited to be part of:+ The Bleach* Festival + Gold Coast Arts Centre summer outreach program+ School fetes+ Kirra Kite Festival+ BeachCare and CoastEd activiites

Engaged with approximately 300 individuals.

Beacholgy was recently funded $4,000 from Griffith University to support a Marine Science Student outreach project for 2014.

CoastEd sessions: For the six-month period between July to December 2013 a total of 32 sessions were delivered to approximately 1427 individuals. This is a 100% increase compared to July to December 2012, which could be a result from the changes in school curriculum. Of these, 76% were delivered directly to Gold Coast schools/ community organisations, indicating a strong presence of CoastEd on the Gold Coast.

In comparison from previous years, session type has diversified, including, the delivery of workshops, professional development opportunities, collaborations with Griffith University Science Alliance, field walks and talks, community events and early learning institutions such as kindergartens. This has directly supported the dissemination of CCEP resources to a wider audience.

Although, a lower percentage of sessions were delivered to the ‘community’, which is a decrease from previous years, the diverse breakdown of session type has supported wider and more diverse outreach opportunities.

Magazine articles:Two articles were published in the Southport–Surfers Paradise Volunteer Marine Rescue magazine titled:

1. Lawn of the sea (Published September 2013)2. Learning by doing (Published December 2013)

An article published in Griffith University’s sustainability magazine to promote CCEP’s resources and the launch of Building Dunes for the Community and the Coast booklet.

Other activities: + A Train the trainer workshop was held at a Griffith University Science Teacher Professional Development event. + A coastal community engagement toolkit was developed to support engagement processes of CCEP and provide a quick reference guide for coastal community stakeholders to support leadership opportunities (in final draft as of reporting). + The existing evaluation and monitoring framework of CCEP was adaptive to capture community mobilisation triggers, engagement agents and benchmarks. This has streamlined reporting processes for all CCEP programs and associated activities. + The CoastEd role has supported fortnightly meetings with the City to provide community updates and progress targets for CCEP.

Presented at the Queensland Marine Teachers Association conference.

CoastEd will be contributing to a Beach Bits column in the local

Sun Newspaper as of January 2014.

CoastEd was recently funded an additional $6,000 from

Griffith University to support an additional outreach opportunities.

Griffith Centre for Coastal Management, Griffith UniversityPhone: 07 55 528506 I Email: gccm@griffith.edu.auWebsite: griffith.edu.au/coastal-managementFacebook: facebook.com/beachcare.coasted