10 MLSSA, General Meeting. 17^th October 2001.

There is now a licensed seahorse farm in South Australia. It is called Seahorse Marine Services and is at Port Lincoln. David and Tracy Warland are running it. They also farm plankton to feed their seahorses.

Pot-bellied seahorses, which live off the South Australian coast, are the species being farmed and can grow to a length of 25cm.

There are said to be just the two seahorse farms in Australia at present. Apart from the South Australian one mentioned above, Seahorse Aquaculture at Beauty Point, Tasmania has also been raising seahorses. The developer of Seahorse Aquaculture, Mr Joff Love, is now developing a large aquaculture centre near Launceston, Tasmania. That business goes by the name Australian Marine Biotechnology.

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/BMLSS/News2002.htm

Reports of marine wildlife from all around the British Isles, with pollution incidents and conservation initiatives as they affect the flora and fauna of the NE Atlantic Ocean. Full details of these reports and their authors can be found on the BMLSS webpage.

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At least 50 small cetaceans, mostly dolphins, have been washed dead up on English Channel coasts during this month. Dolphins are washed up dead every year, but there seems to be at least double the normal numbers this year. Although, the cause of death is not known for sure, most people seem to think that fishing activities are to blame. The cause of the increase is less clear; it could be because of the bad weather has washed more ashore, it could be because more are being caught because of increased dolphin numbers, or increased fishing effort, or it could be because more people are reporting their grisly discoveries.

Along the stretch of coast from west end of Whitsand Bay (Seaton) to Par, and especially Hannafore Point and Looe Harbour beach very many small cuttlebones, mostly Common Cuttles, Sepia officinalis, but also smaller numbers of Elegant, Sepia elegans, and Obigny's, Sepia orbignyana. The unusually large number of adult Common Cuttles (100-180 mm) too, sometimes numbered several hundred. The situation is difficult to monitor accurately as the stormy weather tends to deposit the cuttlebones, then remove them at the next high tide and (presumably) drop them again elsewhere. These large concentrations I have noted before in previous years after prolonged periods of strong south-west winds, so would suggest that it is likely that weather conditions are causing the unusually high number of strandings of these floating objects.

Report by Jon Makeham.We are getting very large numbers of cuttlebones about 40-60 mm long stranded along the shores of Whitsand Bay (East Cornwall next to Plymouth Sound) and in Plymouth Sound. Are there similar strandings elsewhere at the moment?

A Cuckoo Ray, Raja naevus, was discovered in a rock pool in Cove Harbour, Berwickshire, NW England by Ben Tindall, Harbourmaster. It was an adult full grown specimen at 60 cm. The shallow water species of ray is rarely recorded in pools, although the Thornback Ray, Raja clavata, has been recorded in very shallow water in February in the English Channel. The Cuckoo Ray has not been extensively studied. It is a southern species found all around Britain and in the Mediterranean Sea and it lays its egg cases all through the year with possibly a peak in January. This ray could have found its way into the rock pool as a result of fishing activities. This ray is common off this North Sea coast and has been recorded in harbours before.

Dogwhelks lay eggs after a 25 year absence

Kingston Beach, Shoreham Harbour, Sussex.

A notable discovery were large Dogwhelks, Nucella lapillus, averaging 50 mm in length (all a dirty white colour) and one group were laying their egg capsules. This was unknown on this shore since the TBT pollution wiped out the breeding population in the 1970s. A chemical component called tributyltin in anti-fouling paints caused female Dogwhelks to develop a condition called imposex which prevented them from breeding.

6 January 2002

Donny Nicolson reported a decomposed Leatherback Turtle, Dermochelys coriacea, washed ashore on the Dale beach at Walls (west Mainland) in the Shetland Isles.

A 2.88 metres long female Pygmy Sperm Whale, Kogia breviceps, was washed up dead on Thurleston Beach in Devon. This is an extremely unusual stranding of a deep sea whale. Scientists from the Natural History Museum in London have taken DNA samples in an attempt to discover from which population this whale came from. The cause of death was unknown. This species is much commoner in the southern hemisphere. The presence of a population west of the Bay of Biscay is possible. This whale is classified as a Vagrant in the British Cetacean List.

A deep water trawler after Blue Ling and Hake etc. caught a female Giant Squid, Architeuthis dux, amongst the large haul of fish. With a mantle length of 127 cm it is a medium-sized specimen with some of the tentacles missing. Therefore, the total length could not be measured, but it is estimated to be about 5.5 metres with a weight of about 60 kg. the specimen will be prepared for display at the National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth, ‘Creatures of the Deep' zone from May 2002.

This is believed to be the 25th Architeuthis recorded in British waters since 1673. Fifteen have been stranded on the shores of the British Isles, nine caught in fishing gear and one found in the stomach of a Sperm Whale.

There have been nineteen species of Architeuthis described but it is unlikely that there are more than seven, and most recent work suggests that there are three species - Architeuthis dux in the north Atlantic, Architeuthis martensi or japonica in the northern Pacific and Architeuthis sanctipauli in the Southern Ocean. However DNA studies have so far been carried out on only two specimens, one from New Zealand and one from Newfoundland (Atlantic coast of Canada), and the results so far published show no significant differences between them.

According to the Guinness Book of Records 1991, the largest squid found in British seas was an Architeuthis monachus found at the head of Whalefirth Voe, Shetland Isles on 2 October 1959. Its total length was measured at 7.31 metres (24 ft). However, details of this record may be called into question as it is included in the List of British & Irish Strandings in year 1949 with a mantle length of 1.2 metres.

On this list the largest measured specimen had a mantle length of 1.75 metres and was stranded in Cove Bay, Aberdeen on 8 January 1984. (My estimate of the total length would be nearer 6.7 metres or 22 ft.)

The world's largest species is Architeuthis dux.

A Slipper Lobster, Scyllarus arctus, was caught in a lobster pot at a depth of about 60 metres about 3 miles south east of St Mary’s, Scilly Isles, just before Christmas by Barry Bennett. Realising that it was an unusual and interesting find Barry put it in a display tank, which he maintains in the Harbour Master’s Office in St Mary’s.

Scyllarus arctus is a warm waters species found in the Mediterranean, and in the Eastern Atlantic from Morocco to the English Channel but is rare north of the Bay of Biscay. They live on stony ground, in caves, and can also be found on muddy bottoms or in seagrass beds. They use the large spade-like scales at the front of the head to burrow into mud, sand or gravel between and under stones. Only 15 have been confirmed from British seas all from off Cornwall, the Scilly Isles or off Plymouth.

Late last year I read the November issue of "Switched On News", the City of Charles Sturt Community Newsletter. The Environment page (8) had a picture of a sign featuring photos that I recognized as some of David’s Photo Index slides. The picture was part of an article about a series of eight signs that have been placed along the foreshore. I decided to visit the Henley Beach area to take a look at all of the eight signs. They start at the River Torrens outlet where the first sign is located. I followed the sign trail from the outlet to the Grange jetty which is the site of the last sign. The signs cover topics such as dune vegetation, beach combing, seagrasses, stormwater, sand movement, human impacts & uses and coastal birds. The sign featuring David’s photos (No.4) discusses Gulf St Vincent. It is, in my unbiased opinion, the best of the eight signs. It is also in the best location, Henley Square, smack in the middle of the trail. It features five of David’s photos, with his famous ‘Leafy Seadragon with eggs on its tail’ in the centre of the sign. Our Society is mentioned on the sign. David’s photos are popping up just about everywhere and our Society is also being recognized as a result of this. (More photos were published in the December issue of the City of Onkaparinga’s community newspaper "Horizons". The front cover is completely made up of an underwater scene and the back page features five photos.)

The Star of the Sea School’s Marine Discovery Centre was involved in the creation of the signs. The project was coordinated by Tim Hoile from the Marine Discovery Centre and Alison Harvey from Henley & Grange Dunecare. Funding was obtained from several sources as were the materials used in the project.

An article giving full details is featured on page 4 of "Coastcare News" No. 17. Our Society is credited as being one of the groups involved.

The project was awarded First Prize in the Metropolitan Section of the 2001 SA Coastcare Awards. Members of our Society were present at the presentation of the SA Coastcare Awards at Fort Glanville on 2^nd December as our "Jewels of the Sea" project was launched there that day.

Part of the presentation is reported next.

Details of the awards may also be found in the December 2^nd issue of "Wetstuff".

It would greatly assist the smooth conduct of General Meetings in particular if members could read the minutes sent electronically by the Secretary prior to attending the meetings. Hard copies are available for those who forget to download, or have no Internet access and it would be appreciated if these could be read prior to the start of the meeting.

It is very important that people at meeting are clear as to the content of particular motions they are voting on or misunderstandings may arise later.

If you miss a meeting then the minutes do give you an opportunity to clarify the items covered during the meeting.

On Friday February 15^th Margaret and I attended the launch of the new exhibition "Encounters of the Fleurieu - Dreamtime and Discoveries" at the Whale Centre at Victor Harbor on behalf of MLSSA.

The exhibition celebrates the meeting of the two great explorers, Matthew Flinders and Nicholas Baudin, in what is now known as Encounter Bay some 200 years ago.

After a general welcome and then a very special one by a representative of the Ngarrindjeri people, Mr Matt Rigney who welcomed everyone onto their land, several speakers discussed the project. Following a ribbon cutting ceremony the audience was invited to inspect the exhibition.

It is laid out on the three floors of the Whale Centre and complements the whale exhibition. The basement has a specific display relating to the Aboriginal inhabitants of the area. The ground floor has various displays including first editions of the maps made by Flinders, paintings and items similar to ones noted by the scientists on board the vessels. The Weedy Seadragon is a very special exhibit. The mezzanine floor has several displays which are more of the "touchy feely" type and appeals to children and adults alike.

We can recommend this exhibition to everyone.