June Long Weekend

We had a very pleasant Long Weekend away at Edithburgh. The attendance was very good, there was excellent diving and a very convivial time was had by all. A point to remember, book early next year as cabins in the caravan park get rented very quickly.

Boat and Fishing Show

This will run from 11th to 14th July and we will be displaying a tank on the Southern Diving stand, or in their bus.

Committee Meetings

A reminder to everyone that these meetings are open to all members to attend. It is here that most business is considered. Only major items that need ratification are then taken to the General Meeting. Please ring a Committee Member for details of place and time.

Correspondence

MLSSA receives a considerable amount of information each month. This is all tabled at the General Meetings. We realise nobody will have the time to do more than just scan these items but I do ask everyone to borrow any material in which they are interested. Please see the Librarian, Steve Reynolds, so he can keep a record of borrowings. Some of the items from last month include:- Environment SA, Waves Magazine, Adelaide Skin Diving Club Magazine, Coastal Waters Dive Club Magazine, Scuba Divers Federation Newsletter and the Patawalonga Catchment Water Board's Newsletter. All of these items contain interesting articles

Philip Hall

This month's meeting will be held at our usual meeting place, the Conservation Centre at 8 pm on Wednesday 16th July. Our guest speaker will be Mark Staniforth, a Marine Archaeologist from Flinders University. His students have been surveying the many historic shipwrecks in Garden Island's ship graveyard. He will be discussing Historic Shipwrecks in Australia and the work of preserving and protecting them. Heritage trails and legislation will also be covered. We hope all members will attend what should be an excellent introduction to wrecks and wreck diving.

Many years ago, when MLSSA was originally called MARIA, an attempt was made to write down their unwritten "Code of Ethics". However, at that time, no agreement as to wording was reached. MLSSA has stuck to this unwritten code over the years but recent events have shown that we now need to put our ethics into a written form for all to see.

At the June meeting I presented the Code of Ethics, an amended version of which is reproduced below. It does not affect our Constitution and is independent from it. Also, it may be changed at any time by a successful motion passed at a general meeting. I ask you all to read it carefully and to let me know of any objections or changes you feel necessary before July 11th.

This Code, together with any amendments, will then be presented for ratification at the July General Meeting on 16/7/97.

. Members shall at all times conduct themselves in a manner which will enhance the character and interests of the society.

. The emphasis of the Society should be on observation, educational research and breeding.

. Society collecting of specimens should be for educational purposes only.

. Members should at all times discourage the collecting of native marine creatures by hobbyists.

. Members who are new to collecting native creatures should be trained and supervised by an experienced collector.

. Diving trips to collect specimens must be conducted so as to comply with the laws relating to marine creatures, fishing and the particular dive site.

. Supervision of the dives will be the responsibility of the dive officer.

. Supervision of the collecting will be the responsibility of a nominated Committee Member or other senior Society member, present at the dive/dives, whose decision on any matters relating to collecting shall be final.

. The Supervisor has the right to indicate which fish or animals should not be taken on Society dives, e.g. those which cannot be kept successfully or those which are rare or may not be legally taken, as MLSSA fully supports laws restricting or banning the collection of endangered species.

. Every consideration must be given to the creatures collected so as to minimise mortality rates.

. The Society can also place limits on the numbers of any particular species which may be taken at a particular dive site, or combination of sites during a series of dives.

. Every care shall be taken when collecting and handling specimens so as to minimise stress and damage, and to also lessen the impact on wild stocks and their habitat.

. All fish taken will be recorded in a register.

. Specimens taken on Society dives shall not be offered for sale.

. Members should be always aware of the sensitive nature of collecting native creatures and must therefore be circumspect in their conversations when talking to, or in the hearing of, the public.

. The collecting of specimens should only be undertaken for specific projects, and suitable facilities must be ready for them prior to the dive.

. Members should aim to maintain their tanks and inhabitants in the best possible condition, so as to assist longevity.

. Neither wild caught or captive bred fish shall be translocated to any natural habitat.

. Ailing fish should be humanely destroyed and the body buried, put out with the household refuse or composted.

. All members must agree to abide by this Code of Ethics before participating in any Society dive where the collecting of specimens takes place. Philip Hall

Matt Deighton wrote an article about Mark's work in the Portside Messenger recently. There was also a two-page spread about him in the May 25th Sunday Mail. This one was written by Brad Crouch. These two articles will be kept in our library for reference by our members.

Many thanks to our new Editor, Philip Hall, for the tribute to me in last month's Newsletter. I really appreciated it very much. Thanks also to Peter Gilbert for his tribute at our AGM in May. I edited my first Newsletter in April 1981 whilst our Publicity Officer was away working in Port Lincoln for a while. I continued to do our Newsletter for another sixteen years, chalking up some 187 issues. Even if I had continued for another year I would still not have achieved the magical 200. There is a story behind the August 1981 date mentioned by Philip. Phil John was our Publicity Officer until June 1981 when he was replaced by Barbara Douglass. Barb was happy to leave the production of the Newsletter to me. In July 1981 the new position of Publications Officer was created just for me. It was the August 1981 issue that first listed me as being the Publications Officer. I had already been the MARIA National Director of Publications since March 1981. The position of Publications Officer was scrapped in June 1982 when a new style committee was elected. I continued to be the Newsletter Editor though. The new style committee led us into a new era in September 1982 by instigating a change of name for our group. That's when we became the Marine Life Society. The average size of the Newsletters at that time was over 30 pages. From that point on, however, a good issue would comprise of about 24 pages. I became the President of our Society in October 1984 and re-introduced our Journal. We had not published a Journal for over four years. Despite lots of problems, our MLSSA Journal No.1 was published in February 1985. No.2 came along in August 1991. Since 1992 we have published a Journal every December. It has only been through the efforts of Philip Hall and Phill McPeake that our Newsletter and Journal have continued for the past couple of years. Philip has gradually taken on more of the editorial responsibility. He has been busy organising our next Journal all of this year. He is now officially our Newsletter and Journal Editor and will lead us into our 21st year.

Steve Reynolds

Editor April 1981 - May 1997

The major topics discussed at our June General Meeting included the reply from Primary Industries Minister Rob Kerin regarding the issue of a Leafy Seadragon collecting permit. We agreed to start including more marine life in our Photo Index. We discussed grant applications for the Index. We heard about the release of Paul Watson, the Sea Shepherd, who had been held at Lelystad Penitentiary in the Netherlands for over ten weeks. Our Royal Show plans were discussed in detail. We also spoke about our proposed ethics list. Everybody gave themselves a pat on the back for our 21st anniversary meeting. Peter Gilbert was congratulated on reaching 19 years membership with the Society. We then had a break for coffee and a quick chat. David Muirhead handed out even more native plants to members. They were the Ruby Salt Bush, Enchylaena tomentosa, and the Sea-berry Salt Bush, Rhagodia candolleana. After the break we moved into another room where our guest speaker had prepared for his talk. Tony Cheshire from the University of Adelaide was our guest. He was accompanied by Margi Prideaux, the Reefwatch coordinator, and two friends. He used a slide projector and a desktop computer projector to illustrate his talk which was titled "Reef Health and the Management of Reefs". Reef Health is a joint project between the Adelaide and Flinders universities. It is funded by the EPA and run in collaboration with the Conservation Council.

Its objectives are as follows:-

Develop protocol to assess the status of reefs.

Apply protocol to selected reefs.

Determine the status of reefs in the metropolitan area.

A major issue of the project is to make the protocol available to community groups for application. At the end of Tony's interesting talk there was a long discussion about some of the issues. Many thanks for being our June guest Tony.

Steve Reynolds

Whilst diving with Paul and Leona Fitzgerald on the Noarlunga Tyre Reef on 30/1/97 I chanced upon a very distinctively shaped fish lurking close to a tyre pyramid.

Though I cannot recall ever sighting one during my years of diving in SA waters, I was quite sure this was a Dory. I hoped that it would oblige me by either being approachable or, at least,seeking refuge within a pyramid (as other species on tyre reefs often do, notably Bullseyes, Black-spotted Wrasses, Long-snouted Boarfish and many Leatherjacket species).

I got that sinking feeling well known to underwater photographers, however, when the dastardly Dory did disappear decidedly quickly and with deceptive ease into the blue-green haze. By the way, a purple haze hasn't been seen near Adelaide for decades due to stormwater discharge but all we aging hippies long for the day!

(A question for readers: Just how far off is the time when I can activate a forcefield to facilitate my approach to a subject in my humble pursuit of celluloid excellence?)

Suffice to say, I did not get a single exposure despite my breath-holding, heart-thumping and stealth bomber-like approach to this fickle fish which appeared to glide soundlessly out of my sight as if it were a target on an overhead wire at a shooting range and I had used up all my ammo. Or put another way, the fish rose above the artificial reef and swam at increasing speed and with unmistakeable purpose away from it's admirer and publicist, towards deep water.

Only a few weeks later, Paul Fitzgerald, who had not seen my fish, got a couple of hasty exposures of a Dory (the same one?) on this same reef. We have identified the fish as a Silver Dory and one of Paul's exposures is to be included in the MLSSA Photo Index of fish species.

Gommon, Glover and Kuiter in "The Fishes of Australia's South Coast" state that the Silver Dory occurs "near the bottom in depths of 30-350m" in Southern Australia, whilst Hutchins and Swainston in "Sea Fishes of Southern Australia" describe it as "common in deep offshore waters of Australia's South Coast, occasionally found in schools over shallow reefs in Tasmania".

As the Noarlunga Tyre Reef is approximately 17m in depth, these sightings are of some interest in indicating either the attractiveness of artificial reefs to usually deeper water species, (and I must say by way of example that Brown-spotted Boarfish seem to love artificial reefs), or a similarity between the species' behaviour in Tasmania and SA, OR least

gratifying but very possibly, the mere fact that we know virtually nothing about our local marine fauna!

David Muirhead

Application forms for the 1997 Royal Show (fish section) have to be in by Friday 18th July. This year MLSSA is entering 2 tanks in each of 3 categories. We will also be setting up our 4 ft display tank as a separate exhibit, not in the competition. We will need much assistance so please contact Phill McPeake or myself if you are able to help by either collecting specimens, setting up the display or by helping with the dismantling at the end of the show.

Philip Hall

On the evening of Sunday 24th March, the Whale Centre received a phone call reporting a dolphin trying to strand itself at Horseshoe Bay, Port Elliot.

Les Mc Diarmid and NPWS Ranger John Bracken attended and realised it was actually a small unidentified toothed whale. Les and John monitored the whales activities, watching as it repeatedly swam in close to shore. When they entered the water, the whale approached and circled them, then swam straight into Les's outstretched arms, it was very lonely, ill and disorientated. The decision was made to take it to the RSPCA's Lonsdale Marine Rescue Unit that night, as it was unlikely to survive if left in the ocean.

On arrival at Lonsdale, the whale was assessed by the RSPCA's vet. The whale species was still unknown until the curator of mammals from the SA Museum, Dr Cath Kemper, arrived. She quickly identified it as a rare spectacled porpoise, having seen one recently being autopsied in New Zealand. The only other spectacled porpoise ever seen in Australian waters was washed up dead in Tasmania last January.

The spectacled porpoise was a female calf thought to be only about six months old. She was only about 1.6 metres long, and blood tests showed she was very malnourished and dehydrated. Marine experts at Seaworld in Queensland were contacted for assistance. Assistant curator, Kerry Haynes flew down the next day. The porpoise was force fed water to rehydrate her, also a protein rich type of milk mixture to build up her strength and antibiotics to build up her resistance. Experts from San Diego, Florida and Holland were also contacted for information and advice. Unfortunately, the porpoise was too ill and died early on Saturday 29th March.

The Whole exercise surrounding the collection and caring for this rare species was invaluable and everyone learnt a lot. Since then, the various organisations involved, including the SA Whale Centre, have been working together to develop a better live stranding procedure. The SA Museum may display the skeleton in the future.

It is interesting to note that only a fortnight earlier, Les and Polly Mc Diarmid had attended the whale stranding seminar conducted by the Australian Dolphin Research Foundation. This was reported in our April Newsletter by Steve Reynolds, who also attended. Les obviously made good use of the information acquired at this seminar.

Peter Hoskins, his wife Louise and their three boys arrived at Edithburgh on Friday 6th June. This was because Peter had an appointment to visit Port Vincent Primary to view their Marine Science Centre on that day.

The rest of us arrived at the Edithburgh Caravan Park at various times on the Saturday. Phill McPeake was very early, and spent his time fishing off the jetty whilst waiting for the rest of us. Margaret and I arrived at midday to be shortly followed by Jonathon and Sharon.

Apart from the socialising, the main purpose of the weekend was to obtain educational specimens for the Royal Show tanks and to stock Peter Hoskin's Marine Studies Centre's tanks. It must be stressed at this point that only fish, or creatures, which were common to each area and would survive travelling were taken. We made every effort to ensure that we made minimal impact on each dive site.

The first dive of the weekend took place at the Edithburg Jetty a short while later. (All dives will be reported at another time by the Diving Officer). It, like all the others, was a great success. I cannot dive of course but was able to try out my new bait fish trap, and scored a pygmy and a Pheasant Shell within a few minutes. Later I discovered they were gifts from Jonathon! Other attempts with the trap were quite well rewarded. Peter Gilbert and Jean arrived just as we were leaving the jetty so they joined us at the campsite. After some socialising we went to a local hotel for an excellent dinner. We then all whiled the late evening away with much storytelling.

Sunday dawned brilliantly, except that someone had stolen a pair of dive boots belonging to Sharon. She was able to borrow a pair from Peter G. for her next two dives. That morning, we all went to Point Turton to dive, but found that snorkelling was out because of the wind direction. Whilst some of the adults dived, the boys played in the shallows near the boat ramp. Later I purchased from Edithburgh Motors an excellent book on the wrecks to be found in the waters around the Peninsula. This will be available at our July meeting for perusal.

In the afternoon we all went to Port Moorowie for a barbecue. We saw Peter G's newly reinstalled tank arrangement. It was superb! We also had a look at the new walking trail. Then we viewed the website being generated by Peter G. for the Port Moorowie Progress Association. Sharon and Jonathon left early for a night dive and Louise and Peter Hoskins left to put the children to bed. The rest of us partied on.

Much later, when Phill, Margaret and I got back to the campsite, we found Peter H. had put two bottles containing his fish on our cabin verandah as his air pump was on the blink. Into our bins the fish went.

Monday was also beautiful but most of us were all dived out. After packing, and then deciding which specimens were suitable for which particular tank, we all made our way back to Adelaide by various routes.

Margaret and I then had to go out to a local Community Association Meeting that finished at 11.45 pm! A very long, Long Weekend indeed.

5 Years Ago

A photocopy of a birth notice appeared. Congratulations were expressed to Geoff and Carol Mower on the birth of Timothy Daniel. He has grown considerably since then!

A spearfishing ban at Second Valley was recorded as being proclaimed on the 23rd March and Steve Reynolds reported on a talk he gave on Seadragons to the Le Fevre Peninsula Dive Club.

Two Humpback Whales were reported off the coast at Victor Harbor in June.

10 Years Ago

There was a report of the June Long Weekend field trip and this time it was to Wallaroo and not Edithburgh. Several dives took place, even night dives! People on the jetty were fascinated by the specimens collected. A record of the fish and other creatures seen on these dives was also given.

Member Frank Wendland also wrote an article on Flutemouths together with an illustration.

The Victor Harbor Study was mentioned and plans for settlement plates and their attachment to the pylons described.

Some jetties, including Port Noarlunga and Second Valley were reported to have been damaged in storms the previous month.

15 Years Ago

This Newsletter was the first of a new style for MARIA which intended to change its name to MLSSA at the next meeting.

There were articles on the keeping of filter feeders by Peter Gilbert and one on air uplifts by Mike Harmon. A further article by Mike describes the apparent attempt by some recently caught scallops to eject ova and sperm into his tank.

A description of the proposed new O'Sullivan Beach Boat Ramp was given.

Philip Hall

We celebrated our group's 21st anniversary at our June meeting. This month we celebrate the 21st anniversary of our Newsletter. Our Journal will be 18 years old this coming October. Geoff Mower, our longest-serving member, will have reached twenty years membership by that same month. Peter Gilbert has already reached 19 years membership and was congratulated on his achievement at our June meeting. Two or three other members will also reach 19 years membership during the next nine months.

Steve Reynolds

Norway's illegal whaling must be stopped and it's Government must be made accountable for violating the International Whaling Commission's 1986 global moratorium on whaling. Captain Paul Watson, the President of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, was recently held for about 12 weeks in the Netherlands' Lelystad Penitentiary. He was seized by the Netherlands police on behalf of the Norwegian Government. He was wanted by the Norwegians for his anti-whaling protest activities. Paul is known around the world for defending wildlife and protecting the environment. His only "crime" had been to confront and hinder illegal fishermen. All of his work has been to ensure that international laws are obeyed and that endangered species are protected for the future. Norway has been illegally killing whales for over ten years and Captain Watson has practically stood against them alone. There was a real danger that Paul would die in prison for his stand against Norway if he was extradited to that country. On 9th June the judge of the court decided against extradition to Norway and to release Watson on 20th June. All of the above information has been taken from the Internet at www.seashepherd.org .

Steve Reynolds

Margaret, Phill McPeake and I were invited as representatives of MLSSA to the launch of the 1997 Whale Season at the Victor Harbor Whale Centre. This is the second year that we have been invited to attend.

Last year the guest speakers were all men. This year Les McDiarmid chose three ladies. Dr Cath Kemper from the SA Museum spoke on whale research, Dr Karen Eddyvane from SARDI spoke about Biodiversity and the importance of Marine Parks, whilst Michelle Grady of the Conservation Council gave an overview of the current conservation position.

The Environment Minister, David Wotton then declared the 1997 Season launched with a ceremonial sounding of the siren.

The Whale Centre has now published the fourth edition of its Whale Watching Information booklet and has also just produced the fourth of a new bi-monthly Whale Centre Club Newsletter.

It was also announced on the day that Channel 9 in conjunction with 5ADFM will be the official "Whale Watch Stations". Channel 9 news ran a segment the same night on the Launch and Phill was clearly visible in the audience.

Philip Hall

At our June General Meeting we received several copies of the June issue of "Patawalonga Water" (News from the Patawalonga Catchment Water Management Board). It is an 8-page publication with articles about stormwater, catchments, community schemes, wetlands, studies, pollution control, etc, etc... The copies are now being kept in our library cupboard for reference by members.

On Sunday 1st June Noeleen and I took part in the Sunday Mail's "Enviro Tour".through the Mount Lofty Ranges catchment area in the Adelaide hills. We enjoyed the day visiting farms and properties and learning about environmental repair projects. We were given lots of information and the two folders that we received have now been placed into our library cupboard.

The two-page spread about this month's guest speaker, Mark Staniforth, in May 25th's Sunday Mail and the article about Mark in the Portside Messenger recently have both gone into our library.

All other correspondence received, all newsletters from other groups and minutes of all meetings held go into our library. We receive excellent publications from both the Marine Conservation Society in England and the Australian Marine Conservation Society. Both publications are filed in our library.

Steve Reynolds

Library Officer 1997-8

Despite regulations prohibiting spearfishing in inshore areas from Outer Harbour to Port Noarlunga, spearfishing on the reef areas is still occurring. Local residents have voiced concerns over this and other illegal fishing activities in the coastal strip from Kingston Park / Marino to Hallett Cove, especially during the summer months.

Spear fishers are taking undersized recreational fish (flathead, sand whiting etc), in addition to non-edible reef fish (such as juvenile moonlighters, leatherjackets, magpie perch) and juvenile rays. Some of the non-edible fish are speared and left dead in the water, or pulled out and dumped on the rocks.

Apart from the fact that the activity is illegal, the spearfishers operate close to swimmers, which seems like a potentially dangerous practice. Fish-watching snorklers have reported fish being speared in front of their faces. With increasing frustration at the flaunting of regulations and lack of enforcement, and impact on reefs, altercations between residents and spearfishers have resulted in broken gear and other incidents.

Shellfish collection also regularly occurs both above and below tide level at Marino. People are still collecting whelks, turbans and other shells from the rocks (one notable instance of several hundred during a single visit), and some snorklers are taking juvenile abalone and other larger shells from the reef.

Whilst improved signage from Marion Council and Primary Industries is expected some time this year, there is still a problem with enforcement. One of the problems with enforcement may be that FISHWATCH, the Primary Industries Fisheries compliance hotline, may be " too successful", in that it is receiving too many calls to respond to (e.g. it is not unusual for the duty officer to receive 30-50 calls per day, with 3500 calls received last year).

Frustrations and concerns were evident in the recent rounds of community consultation to develop Marion Council's coastal and marine management strategy. This metropolitan reef area is highly valued by those who appreciate its diversity and close proximity to the land. Residents, concerned that such activities are not only degrading the reef environment, but also affecting non-destructive users of this area, have put forward the need for marine reserves in some areas at Marino and Hallet Cove to help further protect the marine environment for snorklers and divers and marine education.

Tony Flaherty,

MCCN