This is the MLSSA Newsletter, the monthly publication of the Marine Life Society Of South Australia Inc. Our Society is active in trying to protect our marine environment and this Newsletter usually contains articles about marine life and the marine environment. Copyright - the contents of this Newsletter are copyright and may not be reproduced without prior permission of the Society. Disclaimer - The opinions expressed by authors of material published in this Newsletter are not necessarily those of the Society.
Subscriptions
You can join the Society or just subscribe to our Newsletter and Journal. To do either, please complete the form on the MLSSA home page and mail it with the appropriate payment to our postal address.
The postal address of the Society is :-
Please send all general correspondence, subscriptions or Newsletter and Journal contributions to this address. Correspondence may be marked to the attention of the Secretary. Subscriptions may be marked to the attention of the Treasurer. Newsletter or Journal contributions may be marked to the attention of the Editor.
Meetings of the Society.
General Meetings of the Society are held on the 3rd Wednesday of each month at 8 PM .
At the CONSERVATION COUNCIL 120 WAKEFIELD STREET The Meeting will start at 8 PM Sharp. Parking is adjacent to the rear door entry.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT (Only a brief note this month due to my absence on holiday.)
Annual General Meeting
Please read the important note on the AGM later in this newsletter.
APRIL GENERAL MEETING
This month's meeting is being held at the Conservation Centre at 8pm on Wednesday 16th April. Our guest speaker for the evening is Malcolm Ludgate, the award-winning cinema-photographer. He will show us, amongst other things, his seahorse hatching film.
FUTURE GUEST SPEAKERS
Tony Cheshire from Adelaide Uni. will be our June guest speaker and he will discuss Reefwatch. In July Mark Staniforth will talk about marine archaeology.
THE INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF THE REEF
We told you in January that 1997 is the International Year of the Reef. The latest "Waves" has another article about it. There is also another article titled "Why care about reefs?". The latest issue of "Marine Conservation" also has a couple of articles about IYOR and there were a couple of pamphlets about it too. All of this information is going into our library.
MLSSA ON THE NET
Did you notice the Internet and E-mail addresses on the back of last month's Newsletter? Ralph has set up a web page for us. It gives information about MLSSA and features four of David's fish slides. Take a peek at http://www.cobweb.net.au/mlssa/ Our E-mail address is mlssa@cobweb.com.au
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
This year's AGM is being held on 21st May at the Conservation Centre. Please note that under the New Constitution persons wishing to stand for Committee must send or otherwise communicate their intention to the secretary for publication in our next newsletter. If you are not already on Committee then a proposer and seconder from the existing membership is required. Society officers are required to hand their annual reports to the Secretary at the April meeting.
MEMBERSHIP FEES
Annual fees for Society membership became due again on 1st April. There is no change to the level of fees and they are listed inside the back cover of this Newsletter. Please pass or mail your payment to the Treasurer ASAP.
WORLD OCEANS DAY
World Oceans Day is being held on Sunday June 8th according to the Marine Conservation Society in England. They say that this day was designated so at the Rio Summit in 1992. World Environment Day comes first though, on Thursday 5th June.
Steve tabled a Certificate of Appreciation from Dragon Search at our March meeting It was awarded to him for his support of Dragon Search during 1996. Steve was also applauded by members at the meeting for receiving the certificate. In January Philip Hall tabled a letter to be sent to the Government regarding the issuing of licences for the collection of Leafy Seadragons. Our January Newsletter outlined the main recommendations from the letter. The latest issue of Southern Regional Ripples (the insert in the Marine & Coastal Community Network's Waves newsheet), Vol.3, No.4, not only gives full details of the letter but also announces a promise from the Minister for Primary Industries, Rob Kerin. The Minister has promised to improve seadragon conservation measures. He wrote to say "that any threat to the species must be minimised and adequate protection measures must be established to maintain this important species". The Director of Fisheries has been advised by the Minister not to issue any further permits for this financial year, with advice to be taken as to action after that. Primary Industries has also been asked to investigate the feasibility of marine protected areas for the habitat of both species, as well as investigate the prolamation of the Weedy Seadragon as a protected species. A seadragon art exhibition was held at Semaphore during Sea Week (16-23 March). The work of four artists was displayed at the Sestri Restaurant. There was also a Dragon Search display which included MLSSA support. Don't forget that Dragon Search T-shirts are now available for $25. Sizes range from Small to XXXL. Contact Vicki-Jo Russell, the Dragon Search Project Officer, at the Conservation Centre on 8223 5155 to arrange the purchase of shirt(s).
As mentioned in last month's Newsletter, the SA Government is developing a Marine & Estuarine Strategy for our state. A workshop to develop a framework for the strategy was held last month. Society member Jean Cannon attended the workshop and has now presented us with a copy of the "Summary of Deliberations" from the workshop. The summary lists topics discussed during the workshop and these have been put under the following six headings:- 1. The need for a strategy 2. Principles to underpin strategy 3. Suggested strategy content 4. Issues 5. Who would be involved 6. Process of consultation
The summary is being kept on file in our library.
GREAT AUSTRALIAN BIGHT MARINE PARK MANAGEMENT PLAN
The Great Australian Bight Marine Park (GABMP) Management Plan is in a draft form to allow the public to comment on it. The closing date for comments on the plan is 24th April. Comments will be used in the formulation of the final adopted plan. The Marine Park is significant because it is the first major marine protected area in SA. It encompasses the GABMP Whale Sanctuary and the GAB Marine National Park. The plan is in two parts. Part A covers Management Prescriptions (how the multi-use park will be managed) and Part B covers Resource Information (the natural habitats and resources of the park and neighbouring waters). The February meeting of the Conservation Council's Coastal Issues Action Group agreed to support the management plan. Karen Edyvane (our guest speaker last October) has an article in the latest Environment SA magazine from the CCSA. Titled "Our Unique South", it discusses the whales, seals and sea lions of the Bight. The Leafy also gets a mention.
COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION
Whilst on the subject of the Coastal Issues Action Group (CIAG), their February minutes advise that Peter and Jean will be representing the Conservation Council on the *Recreational Fisheries Committee and Tony Flaherty is on the EPA Shipping Impacts Committee. The minutes also had lots of other worthwhile details and will be kept on file in our library. * According to the latest "Waves", nine Recreational Fisheries Committees have been established in SA. The committees are coordinated by SARFAC who will report to the Recreational Fisheries Management Council. The RMFC will be responsible for developing recreational fishing policy on resource management and much more.
Last month I was one of more than 100 volunteers who attended one of three Whale Stranding Workshops held by the Australian Dolphin Research Foundation. Mike Bossley was in charge of the workshop and the speaker was Sheryl Gibney from NZ's Project Jonah. We saw slides, watched videos and took notes of Sheryl's talk. After a lunch break we went to Snowden's Beach on the banks of the Port River. Here we practised raising an inflatable Pilot Whale onto inflatable pontoons. Everyone enjoyed themselves immensely and Channel 9 filmed our antics. They also interviewed Sheryl who, incidentally, autographed my whale book for me. A couple of the volunteers were also interviewed. Although I was not interviewed myself, I did speak to the reporter. I told her that the group needed sponsorship to raise several thousand dollars to be able to purchase the specialist equipment that we had been training with. We featured on the Channel 9 news that night and then the newsreader, Georgina Thomas, mentioned our need for sponsorsip. Ken Cunningham said that he hoped a business could help us. It appeared that my talk to the reporter, Rosemary Hamilton, had been worthwhile. Not yet satisfied though, I rang Messenger Newspapers to arrange a report along the same lines. Reporter Amanda Hodge obliged by writing about the successful workshop and our call for sponsorship in the Portside Messenger. Many thanks then to:- Channel 9's Rosemary Hamilton, Georgina Thomas & Ken Cunningham, Messenger's Amanda Hodge and Sheryl Gibney from Project Jonah.
"A Guide to the Introduced Marine Species in Australian Waters" contains descriptions of more than 70 species of marine organisms along with photos and diagrams. The guide is in ring binder form and updates and supplements will be produced. (The ring binder is not provided though.) The guide costs $50 and can be obtained from Susan Spinks, CRIMP, Division of Fisheries, CSIRO, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001. The telephone number is 03 6232 5452. The fax No. is 03 6232 5485. E-mail is spinks@ml.csiro.au There is also a web page - http://www.ml.CSIRO.au/~spinks/CRIMP/index.html.
LAST MONTH'S MEETING
Our President was unable to attend our March meeting and he nominated Secretary Steve to chair the meeting. Steve did his best to act as both the Chair and the Minutes Secretary. We had some good discussions about our Internet involvement, Reefwatch, Dragon Search and the Coastal Issues Action Group. We heard that the NT Tourist Bureau won 1st prize for their display stand at the Caravan and Camping Show. We had provided and set up a marine aquarium for their stand. Jean told us about the Marine and Estuarine Strategy workshop. She also reported that the Conservation Council is now also a consulting body to the State Government. Steve told us that the SDF is supporting Reefwatch, a file on the rocky intertidal protection zone is going into our library and Fishcare has changed to become the Fisheries Action Program. Peter Marchant from CIAG discussed tuna and snapper farms and oyster leases with us. The meeting went beyond the allotted time and our guest speaker was waiting so we did not have time for a break Paul Manning gave a great talk about the work of the MFP. Our March Newsletter suggested that Paul was to talk about stormwater but I don't believe that the word got mentioned during his talk. Paul spoke about the planning, construction and management of the MFP's wetlands. His talk was illustrated with some great slides. We also heard about the Bolivar to Virginia pipeline, the Garden Island boat ramp upgrade and housing projects. Thanks again for your great talk Paul.
In May 1980 Peter Gilbert took me out in his rubber duck for a dive at Broken Bottom. When we arrived at the site I was embarrassed to find that I had left all of my three face masks in my car at the Glenelg ramp. We had to return to the shore to pick one of them up. Eight years later it was Peter's turn to be embarrassed over forgotten face masks. In 1988 I spent a weekend with Peter and Jean at Port Moorowie. We were planning to dive together but they discovered that they had not packed their face masks in with the rest of their scuba gear. Peter showed me a few pile stumps protruding from the water by the boat ramp. He wanted me to try to trace the piles out to their end. The conditions were poor but I gave it a go. I eventually managed to successfully follow them to the end. Some piles stood a metre high and some were fairly wide. I found a few things such as chains, bolts, mooring rings and bottles. I was glad to have made the effort. The next day Peter wanted me to check out the other side of a little bird roosting area which was submerged on a rising tide. It was hard getting out against the incoming waves. It was also swirly out there and there wasn't much to see either but the sight of a Leafy Seadragon made it all worthwhile. When I returned to the shore I found Peter taking it easy and sunbathing. Moorowie was called a port when there was a jetty there. The jetty was built in 1880 at a cost of 989 pounds. It was 285 feet long and was controlled by the Marine Board. A storm in 1915 damaged the jetty and in 1956 a farmer accidentally burnt it. It became unsafe in the ensuing years and was removed to be sold as scrap. Below are some more details about Port Moorowie:- It was once considered to be the best site for a deep sea port instead of Giles Point but this was probably decided against because it is subject to southerly gales. It had always been a "nightmare" port due to exposure to the rough seas of the Southern Ocean. The "Sir Wilfred Lawson" was stranded there in 1908. In 1917 the "Kona" was wrecked at nearby "Mozzie Flats".
FISH SEEN ON THE DREDGE OR BARGE WRECKS
Our March Newsletter included a list of fish species sighted by Society member David Muirhead on the Dredge and Barge wrecks off Glenelg between 1988 and 1996. David will try to update this list for our Newsletter. Steve Reynolds
Produced, Printed & Distributed by Marine Life Society of South
Australia mlssa http://www.cobweb.net.au/mlssa/
Email,mlssa@cobweb.com.au
MARINE LIFE SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA Inc.
1996 - 97 COMMITTEE
PRESIDENT : PHILIP HALL, ph 08 82704463
SECRETARY : STEVE REYNOLDS
TREASURER : PHILLIP MCPEAKE,ph 08 83841156
COMMITTEE : DAVID MUIRHEAD
MEMBERS : RALPH RICHARDSON : BRONWYN REICHELT
1996 - 97 OFFICERS
EDITOR : STEVE REYNOLDS
CONSERVATION COUNCIL REP : PETER GILBERT
SDF REP : STEVE REYNOLDS
DIVING OFFICER : SHARON DRABSCH, ph 08 83744072
MLSSA is affiliated with both the :-
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