In August, eight Sea Shepherd Australia crew travelled from around Australia to join the Rangers for another clean-up working across Groote Eylandt, which is the largest island in the Gulf of Carpentaria and the fourth largest island in Australia. Plastic pollution and ghost nets wash up here after being carried in by currents from the Arafura Sea.

More than one tonne of the total debris collected was made up of discarded or lost fishing-related gear like ropes, fishing nets and lines.

It didn't take the crew long to be confronted with the devastating impacts this gear is having on marine life – after finding a huge net buried in the sand at Southpoint Beach, the remains of a juvenile hawksbill turtle were found tangled in it.

Ghost nets are often a symptom of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing, where poachers frequently cut their nets loose and flee when confronted, abandoning their gear rather than risk capture with evidence onboard. As this clean-up showed, ghost nets don't simply disappear – they float through the ocean entangling and killing marine life before eventually washing up on distant coastlines. On Groote Eylandt, the washed-up nets continue to pose a threat, as these beaches are nesting hotspots for turtles, and hatchlings in particular are at risk of becoming entangled as they make their way to the sea after hatching. The crew saw plenty of fresh turtle tracks as they cleaned – evidence that turtles are nesting on these beaches.

That is why our clean-up campaigns are so important.

Under the leadership of the Rangers, who have extensive knowledge of Country and the beaches, tides and where marine debris accumulates, our crew spent six days methodically working along the beaches, removing marine debris by hand.

As well as the ghost nets and fishing gear, we found lots of consumer waste, including plastic drink bottles, bottle tops and plastic packaging.

These plastic items pose a further threat to turtles, who can mistake it for food, which can lead to blockages in their intestines and cause float syndrome, where a build-up of gas prevents turtles from diving, leaving them more susceptible to predators or boat strike as they remain on the surface of the ocean.

In total, the team cleaned 21.5 kilometres of coastline and removed 4.5 tonnes of marine debris. Based on the crew's sorting and sampling of 10 percent of the debris collected, an estimated 109,671 individual pieces of rubbish were removed from the beaches.

That is more than 5,000 pieces of debris for every kilometre of coastline cleaned.

A staggering amount of pollution that simply should not be on our beaches.

It is exhausting, hard work, but it is an honour to be welcomed back to Groote Eylandt every year by the Anindilyakwa Land and Sea Rangers, helping them care for Country and protect the coastline and biodiversity of this unique and special island.

For Sea Shepherd Australia, this clean-up is only part of the mission. It is the relationship with the Rangers, and the knowledge shared between people who care deeply about Land and Sea Country. It is our shared commitment to raising awareness about the much bigger problem behind it. And it is the passion of Sea Shepherd crew, who give up their time so that these beaches are safer for the turtles and marine life that call them home.