From talking at an international conference in Melbourne, to saving the life of a pelican and giving talks to school children across the Hastings, the 12 year old from Lake Cathie sure has a love for the ocean and its animals.

“It certainly has been a very busy few months for me. I am doing lots of school talks talking to students about how precious the ocean is and how small changes like stopping the use of single use plastic can go a long way to helping the ocean,” Shalise said.

“I also had the opportunity to go to Melbourne and meet one of my heroes Philippe Cousteau Jnr from Earth Echo in the United States.

“I grew up watching his dad do wonderful things for the environment and to meet Philippe Cousteau Jnr was so amazing and probably the best day of my life.

“I was invited to Melbourne for the conference on how to reduce single use plastics from our world and was able to listen to people who are doing some really great things around the world talk about what they were doing to see if we can do it at home.”

Shalise said her messages about the dangers of plastic ending up in the ocean and about disposing of fishing line responsibly is slowing getting into the minds of locals in the Hastings.

“It is great to see so many people who love to fish using the bins I have been able to put up in Lake Cathie,” she said.

“But it was disappointing to see that over the school holidays I found so much fishing line on the beaches and on the ground around the area but it was pretty busy with lots of people coming to town for the holidays.

“Now the bins have now been around for a while local people are generally getting the message and I have been getting lots of messages of support for what I am doing.”

Shalise and her family also had a wild encounter with a pelican who had gotten caught up in fishing line over the school holidays.

“Oh it was just an awful situation. We found a pelican who had two hooks in its mouth and a lure caught as well and it was so sad.

“We called all the animal rescue people we could think of and on a Sunday afternoon it was really hard to find someone. But then a great guy from Laurieton called Malcolm ended up coming to help us and we saved the pelican after over two hours.

“It was so scary but we were all so happy to get a good outcome. It is now kind of funny because the pelican is quite distinctive so we see him every day and we named him Miri after a miracle because that’s what he is – a miracle.”

On Monday, October 22 Shalise was also recognised with a nomination for the 2018 Fred Hollows Humanity Award.

The Humanity Award is an initiative of The Fred Hollows Foundation to recognise Year 6 students for things other than academics and sports.

It recognises true humanitarians or children with an altruistic nature - children who show kindness, compassion and integrity.

She said in the coming months there are still lots of things she will be doing to raise awareness about plastic pollution.

“On the surface when you think about the problems the world is facing with plastic pollution it can be overwhelming but when I talk to people I always say it is about making small changes that can make big difference.

“Switching to a reusable drink bottle or not having plastic wrap on a sandwich are small things that can have a big impact on the ocean and wildlife that live in the ocean.

“Over the last few months I have been talking to people at markets and selling bracelets and hopefully I am going to be able to film a short video to show at schools all over Australia about the need to stop using single use plastics.

“I am also going to write a report about the success of the fishing line bins which I hope to send to parliament and to coastal councils all over Australia to see if I can get bins placed in other places to help stop the spread of fishing line.

“There are also heaps of other projects in the pipeline that I will be working on next year which is all really exciting.”

Shalise said she just hopes people are willing to take small steps now.

“I am just one person with a passion and I am going to continue to bring about awareness of the dangers single use plastic and fishing line has on our ocean and wildlife.

“I am a strong believer that one person can make a difference and that everyone should follow their passion and this is just something I believe so strongly in.”

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