Algal blooms a big threat

None of the students, who painted dugongs and salmon on Roebuck Primary School’s footpaths this week, got into trouble.

On the contrary, they were rewarded by their principal, by Yawuru Rangers and the Roebuck Bay Working Group, because the turquoise logo they painted on paths next to the school’s drains has an important community message; Keep Our Bay Clean.

With Roebuck Bay experiencing worsening algal blooms of lyngbya most years since 2005, the school has got behind a Keep Our Bay Clean project being run by Roebuck Bay Working Group and Yawuru Rangers. The key message for Broome is that if our community can prevent nutrients and pindan from entering Broome’s stormwater drains, we can stop destructive algal blooms in Roebuck Bay.

The nutrients that are the main culprits are nitrogen and phosphorous which are in many fertilisers, detergents, garden waste, wastewater and animal faeces. Another food source for algal blooms is our pindan soil, which contains high levels of iron and some phosphorous. While research is urgently needed to confirm the cause of algal blooms, action is needed now to reduce the amount of nutrients and pindan entering Roebuck Bay through our stormwater drains.

The students, who are on the environment team, meet weekly to carry out projects such as drain stencilling. Led by Roebuck Primary principal Peter Jones, Roebuck Bay Working Group Co-ordinator Kandy Curran and Yawuru Rangers Jason Richardson and Domanic Matsumoto, the students plan to paint stencils on drain inlets throughout Roebuck Estate.

As a result of the project children will be coming home from school full of ideas about how your family can stop pollution reaching Roebuck Bay, thereby reducing the chance of lyngbya blooms. If you want to be one step ahead of them check out the list of tips on the Roebuck Bay Working Group website www.roebuckbay.org.au