by Heidi Taylor - Tangaroa Blue founder

The Winds of Zenadth Cultural Festival was recently on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait Islands. The festival is run every two years and showcases the culture and customs of the Torres Strait people.

The Torres Shire Mayor Pedro Stephen explained the importance of the festival in an interview with torresnews.com.au.

"In a fast-changing world, it makes me proud that we have a vibrant and living culture that we are so full of pride as a nation of people to showcase.

"We, as Torres Strait Islanders, have the responsibility to promote and protect our unique customs and the maintenance of our identity. This cultural festival is firstly for the people of the Torres Strait and then to the outside world to sample the richness of our culture.

"Who we are and where we’ve come from is exactly what the theme of this year’s festival is all about." 

I was invited to visit the Torres Strait by Tagai State College's Head of Marine Education, Andrew Denzin and the week of the Cultural Festival was a great opportunity for my first visit to the very top of Australia.

Tagai State College has 18 campuses, one on each of the main islands, and students and community members from most of these islands have been participating in Tangaroa Blue's Australian Marine Debris Project by collecting debris from their beaches and submitting data to our National Marine Debris Database.

The goal of the project in the Torres Straits is to collect detailed information from the islands on the types and amounts of debris that is impacting that part of Australia.

The debris will be traced wherever possible and then practical ways of reducing the marine debris from ending up on the islands in the first place will be researched.

Having students and community members on each of the islands contributing to this project gives us an unique opportunity to study marine debris movements throughout the islands by receiving regular and detailed information on what is collected.

There are a few unique logistical issues when running the clean ups on the islands that we will work closely with the local Land and Sea Rangers, and and other local authorities to sort out.

But things like getting rid of the debris after the clean ups, what recycling options are available and international debris washing down from further north all need to be looked at to ensure a successful long term project.