ON Monday the NSW Government announced the release of the NSW Marine Estate Education Strategy, to help current and future generations to be responsible stewards of NSW’s iconic coast and estuaries.

Deputy Director General NSW Department of Primary Industries, Fisheries Sean Sloan, said the Education Strategy is the first of its kind in NSW.

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“The Education Strategy will coordinate, develop and deliver education programs to promote a healthy marine estate to the NSW community,” Mr Sloan said.

“By focusing on sustainable use and building awareness of threats to the coast, our estuaries and marine waters, the strategy aims to build custodianship of this valuable natural resource, as well as provide tools to help care for it.

“The NSW Government recently committed an additional $182 million for the remaining six years of the implementation of the NSW Marine Estate Management Strategy and this is a key deliverable under that strategy.

“The Education Strategy is a significant step to achieving meaningful and coordinated marine estate education while encouraging new partnerships with local government, coastal communities, schools and Aboriginal communities, who are all critical to its successful implementation.”

Mr Sloan said the NSW Government’s successful marine litter campaign, which is helping raise community awareness of the source and impact of marine litter, is a great example of the Education Strategy in action.

“With 25,000 tonnes of misplaced litter each year, it is promising to see a significant increase in community understanding from the recent campaign highlighting that littering in residential streets ultimately harms marine life,” Mr Sloan said.

“85 percent of NSW residents live within 50 kilometres of the coast, and our marine estate supports a $15 billion ocean economy – a healthy marine estate shapes the success of these coastal communities.”

The Education Strategy will be a widely used and popular guide for marine estate education for a broad range of stakeholders in NSW, with a particular focus on future generations.

A curriculum-based primary school Marine Estate Agents program is currently being developed as part of the Education Strategy.

This program will feature lessons and learning resources to help raise awareness around threats to coastal waterways and help to influence behaviours positively.

To learn more about the NSW Marine Estate Education Strategy, please visit www.marine.nsw.gov.au.