MLSSA

NEWSLETTER

June 1998 No. 245

"understanding, enjoying & caring for our oceans"


This Newsletter

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 download the Subscription form and mail it with the appropriate payment to:

MLSSA Inc.

120 Wakefield Street

ADELAIDE 5000

South Australia

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 for 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 sharp, usually at the

Conservation Council

120 Wakefield Street

Adelaide

HOWEVER

This Month, (JUNE), it will be held at

Hallett Cove R-12 School.

(See later in this Newsletter for full details.)



Editor's Notes

In this newsletter you will find the following items:-

Brian Brock has contributed another excellent article.

Ron Bellchambers goes down "Memory Lane" in his contribution.

The S A Whale Centre introduces a new initiative.

Dr Rod Connolly compares fish catches in another article downloaded from his Internet page.

I hope members will continue to send in articles as it is the variety of contributions you provide that makes the Newsletter worthwhile.

Philip Hall


Invitation

I received an invitation from the ART Images Gallery to attend on behalf of MLSSA, the opening night of their new exhibition. Margaret and I went and we saw some very interesting, and thought provoking, work.

There were three artists contributing sculpture, film animation on acetate cells and paintings. The painter's theme was the natural world versus that which man creates.

The exhibition was opened by Dr John Wamsley who give an interesting talk in which he likened humans to the contestants in a ferret race. We are all inserted into a tube and forced to go in a programmed direction by an authoritarian force. Why not rebel, was the question, and try to save the natural environment?

Philip Hall




1998/99 Committee and Non-Executive Positions

At the 1998 AGM the above positions were filled. These are listed in the Committee section of this Webpage. We would like to welcome Rob Walsh to the Committee, and Chris Hall as Assistant Diving Officer and also as the second Reefwatch representative. Whilst Ralph is named as the Conservation Council Representative, he would prefer someone else to take on the job. Please let a Committee member know if you can help, or if you need details of what the requirements are for this position.



June General Meeting

This will be held at Hallett Cove R-12 School on Wednesday 17th June, starting at 8pm. Although the school address is Gledsdale Road we will use the entrance from the parking bay in Sandison Road. The map below should assist.

We will be able to view the spectacular aquariums there and to look at some video footage of Leafy Seadragons being born.

Our guest speaker will be MLSSA member Chris Hall, who will be showing some of his underwater slides.






Photo Index Officer's Annual Report

We have added a few more fish slides to the Index since the list that was published in our last Journal. The total number of fish slides is now 123. The Index now contains 39 invertebrate slides from seven phyla. A list of all of these additions will be published in the next issue of our Journal. Slides from the Index have been used for several talks by members during the year. All of the fish slides are now on the Internet as part of our web page. Many thanks to our Committee for all of their efforts in this matter.

Steve Reynolds

Photo Index Officer 1997/8




Mangroves and Intertidal Zonation

I have visited the Broadway groyne region on three different occasions recently, looking at the zonation of intertidal marine organisms, and at the old mangrove stumps. On 11/3/98 old mangrove mud and mangrove stumps were nicely exposed on the beach above but near low tide level north of the groyne. Some of the larger stumps had cable roots radiating from them.

On 18/3/98 I returned to the area with a group of the University of the Third Age people, to try to see the mangrove trunks. The low tide was a bit higher, but the best of the stumps had disappeared beneath the beach sand ("stumped" by being unstumped). One more or less horizontal log was seen, but I am not sure that it was a mangrove log (it could have been Melaleuca halinaturorum). Some mud was seen.

Seeing the thin sliver of pre-dawn moon, I decided to revisit the site at low tide today (27/3/98). Mangrove stumps were exposed in some of the old dark mangrove mud in line with the northern end of the toilet block. However once again, the best of the stumps were covered by beach sand. Some of the firm mud had live bivalves in it. They seemed to be like those still found in firm mud under living mangroves on Garden Island - Irus crebrelamellatus (Tate) (see page 263 of Cotton B. C. (1961) South Australian Mollusca Pelecypoda). On pp 308 and 309 of the same volume, another burrower is described - Pholas australasiae Sowerby 1849. Valves of this soft rock burrower, are often found washed up on metropolitan beaches. We used to call them Angels Wings when we were children.

For the record, The Broadway breakwater rocks showed the following zonation of marine invertebrates: Littorina -barnacles - small black mussels - Galeolaria - seasquirts (mainly under rocks) - Warreners (at the sand line under rocks at the outer edge of the breakwater). Some large limpets were attached to outer rocks, above the seasquirts. The outer rocks also had quite a bit of sea lettuce on them. Statice (Limonium sp.) and sea-rocket (Cakile) were growing up the ramp near road level. Breakwater rocks near the bottom of the ramp just south of Pier Street, had Littorina, little black mussels, and at least two species of barnacle growing on them.

It is worth looking at the zonation exposed on jetty piles early and later in the tide cycle. Look at zonation on piles at each end of the jetty. At high tide, the correspondence between high tide level and the barnacle zone can be clearly seen. At low tide, some of the larger mussels can be seen near low tide level on the outer piles of Glenelg jetty. At low tide, the outer end of Glenelg jetty is a good vantage point from which to view the Caissons of the never-completed breakwater, and birds resting on the Caissons.

The new groyne was under construction while we were at Glenelg (just South of the Patawalonga outlet and breakwater).

Brian Brock



West Beach Boat Harbour Issue

In March we sent a letter to the Henley & Grange Residents Association which included the following statements:-

"Our Society wishes to express its support of your opposition to the building of a rock groyne on the coast at West Beach. In view of previous problems with rock groynes we are concerned that groynes built on this part of the coast will have a detrimental effect on the much needed movement of sand northwards. We consider that caution is the best exercise in this matter."

We also sent a similar letter to Premier Olsen:-

"Our Society supports the Henley & Grange Residents Association's opposition to the building of a rock groyne on the coast at West Beach.

In view of previous problems with rock groynes we are concerned that groynes built on this part of the coast will have a detrimental effect on the much needed movement of sand northwards.

We consider that caution is the best exercise in this matter."

We then received a three-page reply from the Premier in April outlining his Government's reasons for supporting the building of a rock groyne at West Beach.

Steve Reynolds



SOD's Talk

David Muirhead gave a very informative talk at the Southern Diving Centre on May 6th. He used many of the MLSSA Photo Index slides and included several unpublished slides he had in reserve. Margaret and I accompanied him to give moral support. This is a very friendly group and is a great credit to Dave Brooksby and his dive Centre.

Philip Hall




S. A. Whale Centre News

"Whales on Wheels"

The S. A. Whale Centre is now offering schools a new experience. We provide an important role in organising and giving educational guided tours of the Whale Centre to visiting school groups, who travel to Victor Harbor for day trips or school camps. In speaking with teachers and group organisers who have visited the Whale centre, we have consistently found that we would enjoy a higher group visitation here, but for the travelling distance and costs involved. To address this and to supplement our current services, we have now set up a Programme for school visits -

"Whales on Wheels".

The presentations are both educational and entertaining, combining video, audio and picture panels with "hands on" specimens of whale bones, teeth and baleen as well as specimen jars of krill, whale oil, skin and blubber.

Each visit lasts for one hour and some of the information conveyed includes :-

whales are mammals

SA's 25 whale species

southern right whales

life cycles and migration (feeding and breeding)

whale watching

conservation

protection

whaling (historic and modern)

whale products

whale features and identification

hazards

pollution

Each visit is tailored to suit the age groups involved.

The cost of a visit is $3 per student and adult (teachers are free). For further information contact either Tina or Les at the SA Whale Centre to make bookings or to have some information sent out.

Telephone - (08) 8552 5644

(Taken from the March 1998 Whale Centre Club Newsletter.)

Philip Hall



Memories

I thought it was about time for me to send some more articles, and I thought in this one I would reminisce with you on how and why I started diving, and who were my heroes in the dive world.

Well, my diving career started when I was a youngster of around 12 years of age, although that's going back a fair bit. Like some young people of today I had a fascination with the ocean and its creatures and the adventures you begin when you enter this silent but beautiful world. In those days the equipment you could buy was not of the quality that you can purchase these days and needed a lot more looking after, washing, drying and putting talc on it so as it would not perish before the next season.

Back then the only clubs that were really around were the spearfishing clubs, as scuba was still only in its infancy. So I joined the Le Fevre Peninsula Spearfishing Club, which was then located in the old iron shed at the Riverside Football Club, at Port Adelaide. This is going back to the mid 60's. In those days there were about a dozen of these spearfishing clubs in and around Adelaide and competitions were held all year round, no matter what the weather conditions were like. (I tell you that I was a lot keener back then than now).

Spearfishing back then was pretty horrific by today's standards, as every fish speared, no matter what the species or quantity was awarded points to the participant. Today, spearfishing competitors have become more environmentally aware and abide by a strict code with rules that stipulate that only certain species are allowed to be taken, and only one of each species to be taken per entrant. All fish that are speared must be of good eating quality and are kept by the spearfisher for this purpose.

I personally consider that the main damage done over the years, since I started diving, was done by both amateur and professional netters. (There are those out there that will argue about this matter no matter what the out come.)

I suppose one changes as time wears on and of course I graduated into the realm of scuba. Ah! a whole new dimension. In those days you had the old "J valve" system for your reserve air and single hose. No BCD's and you only had a plastic backpack with harness and a pencil like air pressure gauge ( which looked something like tyre pressure gauge). Anyway, these certainly did the job.

Well, this scuba gear was the " you beaut stuff" of the late 60's early 70's and onwards compared with today's modern equipment.

Dive locations back then were varied for me. I suppose they are still that way today too, but I don't know. I reckon back then there just seemed to be more to see (probably not as much pollution) and explore, but it certainly was exciting stuff.

In these early days I was lucky enough to dive the Piccaninnie Ponds and Ewens Ponds in the South East, before they became National Parks and everyone and their dog gets there now. Places like Beachport and Nora Creina were unspoilt places, and crayfish could be found in holes in every reef. (Oh! those were the days.) There was very little diving done in these places then. But again, times change, and so does everything else, especially equipment prices. Don't forget the dive shops, as back then there were not too many of them around. Not like now. But you could, and still can, get good and friendly service from most of these shops. So really, not much has changed in this area over the years.

My heroes back then were Lloyd Bridges of Sea Hunt fame, "never missed an episode", and of course Jacques Cousteau. I don't think I have missed one of his brilliant underwater episodes. What a true explorer of the deep, a person who is dearly missed by the diving fraternity world wide.

Well, time wears on and so do people, so I hung up my diving gear and delved into other activities. It was not until years down the track, after I married my lovely wife and had two lovely children, that the thought of returning to diving and the sea surfaced, as I wanted my family to experience the silent wonders of our oceans, as I had many years before.

Of course I have had to make some changes as I've got older. I have more modern equipment and I am now wiser regarding the environment and its conservation.

I am now a member of the Marine Life Society of South Australia, SODS and am also a member of the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

As you can see, from a humble beginning at the start, to a conservationist now, there is always something for all of us to live and learn from the sea.

Ron Bellchambers



1998 Boat Show

This will be held from the 10th July to the 13th. Look out for the MLSSA tank in the Southern Diving bus.




Comparison Of Fish Catches From A Buoyant Pop Net And A Beach Seine Net In A Shallow Seagrass Habitat.

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser., 109: 305-309.

A large (25 m2), remote-release buoyant pop net, floorless to permit normal behaviour by benthic fish, and a beach seine net were evaluated by comparing the catch from the two net types. Both nets were made of 1 mm mesh, aimed at catching fish from 10 - 100 mm long. The pop net caught more fish than the seine net, mainly because nine times more Favonigobius lateralis were caught in the pop net. Apart from species such as F. lateralis that dwell on the sea bed, the seine net catches small fish as well as the pop net, and for some species is a faster, cheaper collection method for survey work. However, as seine net catches can misinform about rank order of abundances of species, its main use may be in collecting presence/absence data. The pop net gives a more accurate estimate of bottom dwelling species, and is useful where fish need to be collected from small, defined areas such as experimental plots.

Rod Connolly



MLSSA Web Page Topic

- the Leafy Seadragon as the South Australian

State Piscal Emblem

1998 has been declared the "International Year of the Ocean" by the United Nations. The Australian Marine Conservation Society has used the international focus on the ocean for a national initiative to raise the profile of the Australian marine environment. The society (AMCS) has launched an Australian Oceans Fund and is appealing for donations to help it to establish several projects. Our Society has details of the AMCS Australian Oceans Fund Appeal including the proposed projects and outcomes.

One of the proposed projects is called "100 Living Marine Treasures". This is a program to involve the community in selecting Australia's 100 living marine treasures. The program also aims to arrive at a choice of a State fish or other marine animal for each State and Territory.

Our Society has unsuccessfully been lobbying the SA Government to declare the Leafy Seadragon our State fish/piscal emblem for the past 18 months. Many letters have been sent to Government Ministers, party leaders and shadow ministers. In July 1997 the Minister for Primary Industries, Rob Kerin, informed us that he would "not be proceeding with steps to proclaim the Leafy Seadragon as the State's fish emblem". We wrote back to Mr Kerin asking him to reconsider the matter but his reply to us confirmed that his Government did not "intend to proclaim the Leafy Seadragon as the State's piscine emblem".

About that same time, the Premier advised us that he was unable to support our request. He felt that "the publicity that would arise from such a proclamation . . may bring about the possibility of increased pressure on Leafy Seadragon stocks".

Our Society still did not accept these decisions and we wrote letters to Mike Rann, Mike Elliott, John Hill (Shadow Minister for the Environment), Graham Ingerson (Deputy Premier & Tourism Minister) and Dorothy Kotz (who had since replaced David Wotton as Minister for the Environment) requesting their help. We told Ms. Kotz that we were concerned that SA may lose rights to the use of the Leafy Seadragon as our State's fish logo to Jeff Kennett's Victoria. She replied that "it is not the Governments (sic) present intention to proclaim the leafy seadragon nor the King George Whiting as the State's piscine emblem". We note that she used capitals for King George Whiting but not for the Leafy Seadragon!

The Labor Party recently released their discussion paper on our coastal and marine environment. This paper said that they believed that the Leafy Seadragon should be SA's piscal emblem. John Hill, the Shadow Minister for the Environment, replied to our letter saying that "In Opposition we will push for it to occur and in Government we will implement it". We have, as yet, not received any word from Mike Rann or Mike Elliott. Graham Ingerson stated that he is "not in a position to influence the selection of marine species to represent the State".

Interestingly, Mr Ingerson also said that "Where appropriate, the SA Tourism Commission will continue to promote this species to select eco-tourism markets, both nationally and internationally". Ms. Kotz, however, has expressed concern over "the likely impact upon the leafy seadragon populations if the species were further popularised". Mr Kerin was concerned "by the possibility of increased pressure on Leafy Seadragon stocks if further publicity did arise from (its) proclamation, and the continuing publicity of its use as a State emblem". The Premier has said that "Anecdotal evidence would suggest that when there has been any publicity about the Leafy Seadragon this has renewed interest in this unique species which has allegedly led to an increase in the illegal take".

All of these comments come from a Government that openly supports the Dragon Search program, allows several specimens to be sent to a Malaysian theme park, encourages the farming (aquaculture) of specimens, features the Leafy Seadragon on both "Marine Strategy Update" newsletters and the consolidated discussion paper "Our Seas and Coasts" by the SA Marine and Estuarine Steering Committee to name a few examples of doing the exact opposite to what they preach.

The "Current Issues" section of the MLSSA Webpage also carries this article.

Steve Reynolds


Same Fish, Same Place, Same Date, Same Time but Two Years Apart

Ex-Port Adelaide footballer Eric Freeman surprised the authorities and himself when he caught the same tagged Snapper at Port Neill at about mid-day on 9th May in both 1992 and 1994.

Steve Reynolds




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