“Choking”, a marine debris sculpture by Francine Preston using beach jetsam. Hopetoun CRC.
Hopetoun Community Resource Centre reported another successful Marine Science Week culminating in a concert from the South Sea Shantymen on Friday.
“Everyone I have spoken to said what a great night it was, really good atmosphere and how good the music was,” marketing coordinator Honey Morris said.
“The closing night was well attended — they were fantastic.”
Mrs Morris said one of the biggest events was the Ocean Art Exhibition hosted at the CRC on the opening night which runs until the end of August.
“That was one of the biggest draw cards,” she said.
“It was open for people who lived within 300km of the Shire of Ravensthorpe so we had a few entries from Esperance and Bremer Bay.”
The exhibition featured a marine debris category, for art made from marine debris.
“There has been a bit more stuff washing up on the coastline this year so that was a big thing to clean up the beach a bit and also put it to use and create some artworks.”
Local artist Louise Lodge also ran one of her occasional rope-into-craft workshops using rope found on beaches and discarded baling twine farms.
Other events included a beach cleanup and a rock pool discovery walk with local marine biologist Patsy Wootton and Fitz Formation workshop with local ecologist Kim Bennett.
Mrs Morris said the festival seemed to be growing in popularity.
“A lot of our local community are passionate about celebrating the coastline,” she said.
“I think most of the attendees were probably locals but we did have some tourists. “Hopetoun is starting to gear up towards wildflower season so there were holiday makers coming to some events.”
The week was made possible with funding from Inspiring Western Australia and the Shire of Ravensthorpe.
