Our Shipping Reporter once facetiously said Noah's Ark could sail into Townsville and the local media would not notice. Sailing about Townsville of late , unnoticed by the Press gang, have been keen representatives of Sea Shepherd, the international organisation which has long been protecting the world's oceans and marine life , manually removing rubbish from the city's beaches . Last Sunday , Sea Shepherd had a stall on Magnetic Island at the Horseshoe Bay Market , below, and members removed rubbish from the beach . Again no mention by the mainland media .
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Whale watching trips have been going on off Townsville recently . Sea Shepherd, of course , took on the Japanese over whaling in Antarctica .
Sea Shepherd's Australian campaigns include Operation Reef Defence designed to protect the Great Barrier Reef from the Adani Carmichael coal mine , the proposed rail link and port which it says will be one of the world's largest mines and will severely put at risk the reef and a liveable climate . Under its Marine Debris Campaign Sea Shepherd organises beach and waterway clean ups all over Australia . In two years volunteers have removed more than two million pieces of marine debris , 80 per cent plastic .
Sea Shepherd is also working to highlight the destructive shark netting programs of Queensland , New South Wales and Western Australia which each year entrap and kill whales , dolphins, turtles and other endangered species .
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