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.
You can join the Society or just subscribe to our Newsletter and Journal. To do either, please download the form from this Website and mail it with the appropriate payment to our postal address.
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.
This Newsletter
Due to printing constraints this Newsletter was printed early in February and therefore contains no report of the February General Meeting or of the KESAB dive. These will be in the April Newsletter.
Publicity
Ron Bellchambers has been very busy on York Peninsula placing MLSSA publicity leaflets where they will be seen to best effect. If anyone else is able to do the same in their local area then please contact me for a supply of the forms. Of course you will have to keep a check on their usage and re-supply when necessary.
June Long Weekend (6th, 7th & 8th)
So far accommodation has been booked by eleven people at either the Edithburgh Caravan Park, (Phone 0888526056), or in neighbouring facilities. The en-suite vans at the Caravan park are few in number so if you intend to go, then please book soon for what promises to be the usual pleasant weekend.
Aquaculture
Ron Bellchambers and his son are also studying for Certificate part 2 and 3 in Aquaculture this year. It will be great as they can keep us well informed of any such developments on the York Peninsula.
Annual General Meeting
This will be held on the 20th May at the Conservation Centre. Committee Member reports are needed by the 30th April at the latest. Nominations for Committee positions should also be received by this date as they have to be published in the Newsletter prior to the AGM.
Newsletter Articles
As you may have noticed Myself, David, Ron and Steve have been the main suppliers of articles this year. Please could other members take a few moments to put together an offering? They are urgently needed for the April edition.
Philip Hall
This will be held at our usual meeting place, the Conservation Centre, 120 Wakefield Street on Wednesday 18th March, starting at 8pm sharp.
At the August General Meeting there was a strong wish expressed for us to obtain a speaker on the topic of Artificial Reefs. We have succeeded, and the contributor of an article in our September Newsletter, David McGlennon, has agreed to give us a talk on his work on studying reefs. He is willing to answer questions on Artificial Reefs at the end of his talk.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible so that we can formulate our policy on this important issue at a later date.
We have agreed to provide a speaker for this group on Friday 19th June. The meeting will take place at the Adelaide Zoo in the Education Centre. It is timed to commence at 7.30pm and our speaker will be David Muirhead who will be showing selected slides from the Photo Index. We also intend to set up a small marine tank with selected specimens from our local waters for viewing and discussion.
Anyone with suitable creatures is asked to contact me a week before the talk.
As a follow-up to the talk we hope to conduct a walk on Aldinga Reef later on in the month.
Ralph and I have been working on the MLSSA Web-page and the extra added links make it very easy to locate articles in particular Newsletters and in the Journal.
Of course, each month a new Newsletter and extra items for the Newsletter Index must be installed. Also, new photographs for the Photo Index will need to be added as and when they become available. To this end Ralph is writing a programme that will enable me to update the Webpage from my home computer.
We also hope to have other arrangements for the Photo Index by way of Species and Genus Lists, and arrangement by Scientific Names. These new additions will make the Photo Index much more user friendly and a great Educational resource.
Philip Hall
On the 17th of January 1998, my family and I went for a snorkel at a beach approximately 7 kilometres south of Port Victoria at a beach now known to me as Waraulte (thanks to an informative local).
The dive took place after we had dislodged my car. I had made the mistake of not being in a four wheel drive and tried to go through seaweed and of course became bogged.
Well, after a little effort from my family we dislodged the car and finally went for our dive. This being 10am, the tide was on the way out at the time of entering the somewhat slightly rough sea.
The visibility was about 2 metres and this was due to the Northerly winds we had had the day before. The first thing my family and I noticed was the large number of small, clear with some pink, Whip's Jellyfish. There were thousands of them every where. Thank goodness for hairy legs and arms.
The area's bottom consisted of sand out to around 5 metres, then there was weed for another four metres until you came to a rocky limestone bottom with bubble weed and other growth growing over it.
Fish life seemed scarce. The fish seen on this snorkel were Garfish, Tommy Ruff, several Southern Calamari, Magpie Perch and Weedy Whiting.
Due to the easy access to this remote beach and being able to drive upon it the lack of fish life may be because of previous netting practices. I wonder if they still illegally continue in this area?
Ron Bellchambers
Terry Sim from the SA Museum told me of a call he once received from a woman who had found a beached seahorse at Semaphore. She insisted that she had found a tropical fish on the beach. She believed that it must have swum from Australia's northern tropical waters. When she described the fish to Terry he decided that it was a species of seahorse. He sent information to the lady to show her that seahorses occur in SA waters. She was astounded to discover that such fish exist in our temperate waters.
Steve Reynolds
A dive at Port Noarlunga reef was scheduled for Sunday 25th January. Not knowing that the dive had been postponed to the Australia Day holiday Monday, Noeleen and I arrived early at Port Noarlunga on Sunday morning. It was windy and the sea was a bit rough. The tide was still breaking over the reef and stirring things up. When nobody else had turned up by 9.30am we went for a walk along the jetty. There were three divers adjusting their gear on the jetty. They said that the visibility was poor. My last dive had been here and the visibility had also been poor on that day. Recent sand dredging activities have been blamed for the deposit of silt all over the reef, reducing the visibility. The authorities say that there is no permanent damage and the silt will soon disappear again. Several weeks have passed since the dredging stopped and the silt is still there. It ruined the diving and snorkelling over the Christmas break. We can only hope that the silt will disappear during a good (bad?) storm. Time will tell!Noeleen and I had other commitments and decided to postpone a dive on the reef until a better day.
Steve Reynolds
(Dive Officers Note - It is always best to phone the Diving officer the day before a dive to, firstly let him/her know you are diving and secondly to discover if there have been any changes in arrangements.)
Margaret and I attended the Clean Up Australia Day 1998 Launch at the Urrbrae Wetland on Tuesday 3rd February on behalf of MLSSA. The event was well attended both by guests and the media. Indeed there were representatives from all the TV stations except SBS.
Ian Kiernan was one of the special guests and he gave a very inspiring speech. The Minister for Environment and Heritage, the Hon. Dorothy Kotz, also made some very intelligent comments on the work of KESAB.
During the morning tea we were able to mingle with the other guests and to talk about MLSSA and of the programme of work being planned by the Coromandel Valley Community Association to improve the quality of flow of the Sturt River.
Philip Hall
Last year we were communicating with Mr Kerin regarding making the Leafy Seadragon SA's state fish. He did not want to do this because he felt that it would place the Leafy under threat. Although we appreciated his concern for Leafy Seadragon stocks should the species be publicised we suggested that the public education and awareness approach would be better. We told him that (in her TRAFFIC report "The International Trade in Seahorses") Dr Amanda Vincent said that "Seahorses could serve as popular flagship species around which to rally support for general concerns in marine conservation, including habitat loss and declining fish populations". We believe that in SA this applies to the Leafy Seadragon. We asked Mr Kerin (if there is to be a fish emblem for our state) would he please reconsider the Leafy Seadragon as it is the most appropriate species.
Since the last election there have been changes in Ministerial responsibility. We are now returning to this issue by sending more letters to the relevant Government and Opposition members and publicising our efforts on our Webpage.
Steve Reynolds
At the February Committee Meeting the Diving Officer Code that was published in the January Newsletter was ratified with the addition of the line :-
"The Diving Officer must be a fully trained, qualified and experienced diver."
This was made the new "Point One" under the heading "The Role of the Diving Officer."
The Code was then presented to the February General Meeting for adoption by the Marine Life Society.
The fully amended code will be published in the April Newsletter.
Philip Hall
A friend of ours has reported seeing some nice seahorses around the shore of Port Victoria. One of the nicest things about Port Victoria is the healthy seagrass that abounds in the area giving feed and protection to the varied fish population. I must say that this is one area along our coastline I would like to see protected, along with Wardang Island and the surrounding islands, as more and more spearfishing, fishing and boating is going to upset the balance of this lovely marine area. Ron Bellchambers
Our Society has progressed well since last year's AGM. Our involvement in projects such as Dragon Search and Reefwatch has helped us. So has our participation in groups such as the Threatened Species Network and the Coastal Issues Group. We had even greater success with aquarium displays at this year's Royal Show and Boat Show. Our Photo Index continues to grow in size and use. Even contributions to our Journal are increasing. We are now being recognised more by Government departments through our activities. Our library continues to grow as a marine information resource centre. Education of the public is a key focus of ours. Society members have recently been giving lectures to groups such as the University of the 3rd Age. We also have a Web page on the Internet which, apart from promoting our Society, contains educational material. We have enjoyed closer ties with the CCSA and appreciate your help and assistance, not the least of which is the use of your facilities for our meetings.
Steve Reynolds
On a recent holiday in Hong Kong, I dined in a local Pizza Hut and noted that the menu included "Abalone and Chicken Pasta", "Sharks Fin and Crayfish Soup", "Lobster Pastry Soup" and "Shrimp Supreme Pizza", as well as the more familiar choices.
Abalone was freely available on other restaurant menus and our hotel menu included "Beche de Mer" (Trepang, Sea Slug), a holothurian. If anyone has read "Capricornia" by Xavier Herbert they'll know that Trepang formed the basis for a small fishing industry in Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria in the 19th Century.
Hong Kong's night street market stalls feature a wide range of crustaceans and molluscs, displayed in live and cooked form, as well as fish. Land snails, similar to the French delicacy, were also popular.
Due to reservations about local marine water quality I did not risk sampling any of the marine filter feeders with the exception of the abalone (found on high wave energy reefs and hopefully therefore safer).
Indeed, I will only now eat oysters or scallops caught in S. A.. Rightly or wrongly, even Sydney rock oysters are permanently off my culinary agenda.
David Muirhead
The Marine Programme
http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/or2000/
CoastNet
http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/coastnet/
Coastcare
http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/coastcare
National Marine Information System
http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/natmis/
The Marine and Coastal Data Directory of Australia (Blue Pages)
http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/mcdd/
Australian Coastal Atlas
http://www.environment.gov.au/marine/coastal_atlas/
All of these sites are taken from "Waves", The Marine and Coastal Community Network Spring newsletter (1997). Several may still be under construction but are well worth a visit.
Philip Hall
The SDF has been invited to attend meetings with the National Parks and Wildlife Service regarding the establishment of Standards for the viewing and burleying for the Great White Shark in South Australia.
MLSSA was asked for its comments and this was discussed at the February Committee Meeting.
We decided that we fully supported efforts to attract visitors to this State but were opposed to the use of burley to bring Great White Sharks to viewing cages.
Our main reason was the problem of seals close by being taken and then the sharks confusing divers with seals.
The congregating of Great Whites into a particular area may pose a danger for divers whilst the sharks roam over the immediate area in search of the burley source and after the burleying has finished.
Our two representatives to the SDF , Steve Reynolds and Ralph Richardson, were asked to present these views.
Philip Hall
The mystery has been solved now! I found my cave diving file which included the Ewens Ponds map in the Society's library cupboard at my home.
I overlooked mentioning that a cave diving certificate is not needed to dive in Ewens Ponds. The map that I have shows three ponds joined by channels. The first pond is said to be 11m deep and has three springs in it. The channel between this pond and the second one is 2m deep and 50m long. The second pond is 6.5m deep and also has three springs in it. The channel between this pond and the third one is also 2m deep but 125m long. The third pond is 9m deep. There is an exit landing for this pond. The creek system continues some distance to the coast at Port McDonnell. (This section is called 8 Mile Creek although it is said to be only 2.4 km long. It is reputed to be a pleasant extension to a dive in the ponds.) There is a long walking track back along the creek system to the landing at the first pond. The map comes with general guidelines for visitor use and scuba & snorkel diving.
Steve Reynolds
I was contacted recently by Sheryn Pitman, Rotary Greening Project officer from Greening Australia; State Tree Centre, who was given my name by Tony Flaherty. Sheryn sought a small selection of Leafy Seadragon photographs to assist her educational role and I was naturally delighted to help out.
I understand that the Project aims to highlight in the public eye the connection between environmentally sound catchment management, with a focus on revegetation, and the health of our coastal reefs, using the Leafy Seadragon as a mascot or sentinel species which may be locally threatened.
Clearly the Leafy Seadragon lends itself to this role by nature of its fragile beauty. It can be seen as a "cuddly" creature, without the anthropomorphic appeal of marine mammals but with the advantage of diminutive size.
The two catchments upon which the Project focuses are the Sturt and Inman Rivers.
I am sure all our members will be delighted to learn of this Project and I have encouraged Sheryn to contact MLSSA if she needs further information on the biology of this fascinating species.
David Muirhead
| To Home Page |