MLSSA

NEWSLETTER

"Understanding, enjoying & caring for our oceans"

MAY 1997 No. 233

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 complete the form inside the back cover of this Newsletter and mail it with the appropriate payment to our postal address.

The postal address of the Society is :-

MLSSA Inc.

120 Wakefield Street

ADELAIDE 5000

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 sharp.

Conservation Council

120 Wakefield Street

Adelaide

Parking is adjacent to the rear door entry.


PRESIDENT'S REPORT

Incurred Costs

Committee some months ago passed a motion allowing the Secretary and I to be reimbursed for phone calls made on behalf of the Society. A later motion was passed agreeing to the payment for costs of materials incurred by a member on behalf of the Society, eg the new fish tank repairs. These motions were later ratified at General Meetings. If any member wishes for reimbursement for a Society Project then you must seek Committee agreement first.

Annual General Meeting

This year the AGM will be a formality as there are exactly the right number of nominations for each position. Under the New Constitution there does not now have to be an election for Committee. We will still need a few volunteers for the non-executive positions such as Diving Officer, etc. The fear of being elected to the Committee, does not now exist so please come to the meeting and enjoy yourself.


Fish Net

Another interesting Internet site to try :-

http://www.fishlinkcentral.com/


1997 Fishing/Camping Show (11th -14th July)

Southern Diving Centre have again asked us to provide a Marine tank for their stand at this show. After the success at last year's show we decided to say yes and provide the same 2 foot tank. Could members start to collect organisms on dives and give them either to me, Phill McPeake or Jonathan Walsh for storage until needed? Contact numbers are to be found at the rear of all Newsletters.


June Long Weekend

The Edithburg Caravan Park has some En-Suite cabins @ $45.00 per night at the time of writing this article. I intend to go up on Saturday7th June and stay two nights. I hope members will join me at Edithburg for this the 21st annual visit by the Society.

Philip Hall


Next Meeting (Annual General Meeting)

This month's meeting is our AGM. It is being held at 8pm on Wednesday 21st May at the Conservation Centre. Please bring along a plate of food for our customary celebratory supper. Drinks will be provided by the Society as usual. We will be electing a new committee and officers for 1997-8. Nominations for committee positions have now closed following the receipt of just the following nominations by the time that this Newsletter was completed (as decreed in our new constitution):-

PRESIDENT Philip Hall

SECRETARY Steve Reynolds

TREASURER Phill McPeake

COMMITTEE MEMBER David Muirhead

COMMITTEE MEMBER Ralph Richardson

We will, however, call for nominations for officer positions during the meeting. Please consider nominating members for any of the following positions:-

NOMINATION

EDITOR ?

CONSERVATION COUNCIL REP ?

SDF REP ?

DIVING OFFICER ?

LIBRARY OFFICER ?

PHOTO INDEX OFFICER ?

REEFWATCH REP ?

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.


Forthcoming Events

Wednesday 21st May - Annual General Meeting (Supper)

Friday 23rd May - Conservation Council's quarterly meeting (7pm)

Thursday 5th June _ World Environment Day

Sunday 8th June - World Ocean Day

Wednesday 18th June - General Meeting (Guest Tony Cheshire, Adelaide Uni, Reefwatch)

11th to 14th July - Boat Show

Wednesday 16th July - General Meeting (Guest Mark Staniforth, marine archaeology)


Last Month's Meeting

At our April General Meeting we heard that Fisheries are still issuing licences for collection of Leafy Seadragons for overseas aquariums and organisations. We decided to send a letter of concern about this to the Minister. We will also report this on the Internet. Malcolm Ludgate was our guest speaker for the evening. He was full of praise and encouragement. We were shown his award-winning video of "The Secret Life of Seahorses". It ran for about 40 minutes and had not been shown in SA before. The video was largely about world seahorse expert Amanda Vincent's campaign against the medical use of seahorses around the world. We saw the morning greeting ritual described in our last Journal, the mating of seahorses and the birth of young ones. The narration was done by David Attenborough. I hope to report more on the video later on. The talk by Malcolm, along with his video, was great. We finished the night off with lots of questions to Malcolm. Many thanks Malcolm. We will certainly take up your offer of another talk soon on Antarctica. Our November 1995 Newsletter (No.217) gave details about Amanda Vincent and seahorses, including their morning greeting ritual.


About Dragon Search Report

David Muirhead attended the opening of "The Dragon Lives", the seadragon art exhibition at Semaphore. He was thrilled to be presented with a certificate of appreciation for his support of Dragon Search. He also received a full colour Syngnathid poster. Noeleen and I visited the seadragon art exhibition on its last day. We enjoyed viewing the numerous paintings, ceramics, photographs and lino prints. We tooks some photographs of our own to remember the exhibition by. Some dry specimens of Syngnathids, including some of mine, were on display as part of a Dragon Search stand there. We saw the magnificent (Gould League?) poster featuring Syngnathids. A nearby bookshop called "Sisters of the Sea" was promoting Seaweek and the art exhibition. We also saw a Syngnathid poster there.


The Effect Of Wetlands As A Means Of Reducing Nutrients, Sediments And Bacteria From Stormwater

Last month I read with concern a report of a talk about wetlands which was reported not to have mentioned stormwater. I was at the talk and remember a map of the drainage system for Adelaide being shown but I guess, like the speaker, I assumed that WETLANDS ARE ALL ABOUT STORMWATER. Wetlands have a threefold function. They remove 80-90% of the sediments carried in the water if it is held in a detention basin for 24 hours and they also remove 80-90% of nutrients and of bacteria from the stormwater.

Adelaide had a wonderful natural wetland system with the Patawalonga, Torrens and Port Rivers being trapped behind sand hills and slowly draining out of the Port River via the natural wetlands of what is now West Lakes. In those days there was a causeway for the tram to get to Henley Beach and there were sometimes floods as far upstream as the Morphetville racecourse. This wetland system has been gradually destroyed by creating an artificial lake at Glenelg, a concrete channel for the Torrens and the large housing development and artificial lake at West Lakes. There are also a series of other large concrete drains discharging stormwater straight out to sea. Since these were completed we have polluted water discharged directly to the sea and huge problems with toxic algal blooms in the Port River which was fit for swimming prior to the construction of West Lakes.

The present ponding basin at the mouth of the Patawalonga does a fair job of removing sediments but not nutrients and bacteria and will be improved enormously by the new wetlands being constructed upstream at Urbrae and planned in the South Parklands. There are serious concerns about proposals to bypass the "Pat" and shunt the water straight out to sea with an even heavier load of sediment than is the case at present. This will have an adverse effect on the beaches north of this proposed new outlet.

It is very important that nutrient levels in storm water be kept to a minimum in order to reduce problems of algal blooms such as blue-green algae in freshwater, and dinoflagellates, "cabbage weed" and the "brown slime" algae common off the metropolitan coast in warm weather. Macrophytes (large water plants) and especially emergent macrophytes, can play an important role in the removal of nutrients and thus limit the density of algal populations which can develop. The removal of nutrients by macrophytes has been reported by several authors - see references.

In open water zones, rooted emergent macrophytes appear to be more efficient than substrate macrophytes (plants which are attached to the bottom but which do not emerge). This is because the emergent aquatic plants act as an oxygen pump, taking oxygen from the atmosphere into their roots and eventually into the water. This makes it available for bacteria and attached algae which grow on the roots help biological uptake of nutrients and the breakdown of organic matter by the bacteria. Wetlands are also considered to be efficient processors of bacteria and BOD (biological oxygen demand), particularly if rooted emergent macrophytes are used rather than submerged ones (Fisher & Clark, 1989).

Wetlands design is important. They need to be protected from trash and large particles so trash racks and gross sediment traps should be installed. Wetlands need to be shallow to work and 25% should be less than one metre depth with the rest having a depth of less than two metres to allow submerged plant growth. Studies suggest that wetlands need to be surrounded by a buffer zone of at least 20 metres wide and that this zone is best planted with vegetation native to the area although grassed areas can be used.

REFERENCES

Breen, P., A. Chick, D. Mitchell and K. Rodgers (1988). The use of artificial wetlands to treat wastewaters. The Murray-Darling Freshwater Research Centre annual Report 1987-88 p33.

Fisher, A.G. and R.D.S. Clark (1989). Urban Stormwater - A resource for Adelaide. EWS Lib. Ref. 89/16

Sydney Metropolitan Water, Sewerage and Drainage Board, (1985). Joint study on nutrient removal using shallow lagoon - macrophyte systems. Interim Report May 1987 (unpublished).

Jean Cannon


President's Annual Report

This has been a year of continued growth for the Society. We have gained several new members and seen renewed interest from existing ones. Meetings have been better attended and this may be due to our having had several extremely interesting speakers, and the giving away, by David Muirhead, of native plants.

Notable events this year have included;

* the two spectacular tanks the Society and some members entered in the Royal Show, and the great successes they achieved

* our participation with Southern Diving at the Boat Show

* in May 1996 I published a booklet on the setting up and maintaining of a marine aquarium, in conjunction with Hallett Cove R-12 School, and gave a talk on that topic to school Laboratory Managers from all around the state

* our participation with the Northern Territory stand at the Caravan and Camping Show

* the visit, and talks given by Ralph Richardson and myself at the South Road Primary School animal day

* the construction of a display board by Ralph Richardson

* the great advances made with the Photo Index, mainly due to the fantastic slides donated by David Muirhead

* the dive programme

* the improved high standard of both the articles and production of the Journal

* the New Constitution was adopted after much work and many re-drafts

* the very successful 20th Anniversary, June Long Weekend, at Edithburg

* our input into the Dragonsearch Programme

* the visit to the Museum's Maceration Centre at Bolivar and the St Kilda boardwalk

* the setting up of the MLSSA netsite on the world wide web

The publicity generated by the Society helped to gain us the donation of a 4 foot tank and cabinet. This was used for the first time at the Caravan/Camping show and we are planning to use it for further demonstrations and displays.

The monthly Newsletter has continued to carry very interesting articles on a wide variety of topics, but by a fairly limited number of contributors. The 1996 Journal featured many very interesting articles by several well known authors. In both Newsletter and Journal we would welcome more contributions. The 1997 Journal is under way, and if all promised articles arrive then it should be one of our best.

All things considered we have had a good year and I look forward to an even better one in 1997/8.

Philip Hall - President 1996/7

Secretary's Annual Report

Looking back over the past thirteen months since our last AGM, a lot has happened during that time. Some of our activities included involvement at some level in the following:- SARDI's Marine Science Centre Open Day in April last year. Prize-winning aquarium entries in the Royal Show last year. A trip to Edithburgh over the June long weekend, culminating in a dinner to celebrate our 20th anniversary. A display stand for Marion Council's World Environment Week display in June. In May Philip Hall addressed a meeting of High School Laboratory Managers on the topic of marine aquaria for schools. This resulted in the production of a booklet on the subject. Our November meeting was held at the SA Museum's Macerating Facility at Bolivar. This was followed by a visit to the mangrove boardwalk at St Kilda. We provided an aquarium display for the Southern Diving Centre's display at the Boat Show in July and the NT Tourist Bureau's stand at the Caravan and Camping Show. Ralph and Philip spoke to students of the South Road Primary School on the subject of "Conservation and Care for the Marine Environment". Our Christmas barbecue was held at Philip and Margaret Hall's home in December. In September we attended a meeting to kickstart Reefwatch. We did a KESAB cleanup dive at the new Brighton jetty in March. In February we held our meeting at the Hallett Cove R-12 School again.

Our projects progressed satisfactorily during the year - our Photo Index, Dragon Search, our library, new constitution, proposed ethics code, Journal, web page, etc.. We had input into the marine organism prohibition and the Penneshaw jetty saga. Many thanks to everyone concerned who assisted with all of the above activities, projects and inputs.

We managed to have several guest speakers at our meetings. Thanks again to our visitors from the Fisheries Compliance Branch, Cath Kemper, Karen Edyvane, David Brooksby and Malcolm Ludgate. Thanks also to Phill McPeake and David Muirhead who both gave talks at meetings.

Steve Reynolds Secretary 1996-7

Treasurer's Annual Report

This will be presented at the Annual General Meeting.

Committee Member's Annual Report

Where did the year go? Another productive phase for the Society with plenty of positives and few negatives.

The Photo Index continues to grow and I am grateful to MLSSA for providing this ready-made outlet for my photographic energies, especially as we are now on the Internet, largely through the enthusiasm of Ralph Richardson and Phillip McPeake.

It is hoped that other members, or indeed non-members with similar interests in promoting awareness of our unique marine fauna, may increasingly contribute to this Index.

Dragon Search powers ahead: who'd have imagined a decade ago that we'd see an art exhibition in SA devoted exclusivley to seadragons and seahorses?!

Work and other pressures have somewhat limited my input into Society activities but, Neptune willing, I resolve to rally in 1997/8, and we seem well placed to forge ahead, complete with revised constitution, towards the year 2000.

David Muirhead

Committee Member 1996-7


Red Tides and Blue Farming Don't Mix

This week marks the first anniversary of the Boston Bay (Port Lincoln) massive tuna deaths. Yet the SA Conservation Council asks - are we any better off 12 months later? Have we learnt any lessons from this avoidable disaster?

In April 1996, organic wastes and nutrients from the faecal wastes from the 66 caged tuna farms contributed to a phytoplankton bloom in Boston Bay. Eminent scientific experts, have clearly identified the cause of the death - a large-scale phytoplankton bloom (or `Red Tide) - which reduced oxygen levels and caused extensive gill damage. Experts, such as Dr Gustaav Hallegraf (University of Tasmania), a world expert in the phenomenon of `Red Tides' has identified the cause of death of tuna in Boston Bay as a microscopic toxic alga, Chattonella marina, which has since been found in very high levels (ie. indicative of a bloom) within the livers of the tuna.

The promising $90 m a year southern bluefin tuna aquaculture industry in Boston Bay, S.A., was dealt with a devastating blow when on 12-13 April and continuing through May 1996, 75% of stocks were killed. Tuna mortalities were associated with a bloom (66,000 cells /L) of the neurotoxic raphidophyte flagellate Chattonella marina. (Hallegraf 1997).

It appears, the storm was only a contributing factor to the death of tuna in Boston Bay (stirring up the oxygen-depleted sediments and faecal wastes). Some farms reported tuna deaths 2-3 days before the storm event.

Other respected researchers, such as Dr Anthony Cheshire (University of Adelaide) and researchers from SARDI, have clearly identified the tuna farms as a major contributor to nutrient and organic loads within the bay. Poor flushing of waters within the bay, and a history of pollution within the bay, resulted in SARDI researchers actually predicting the eventual disaster as early as January 1993 (Advertiser, 10 August 1996). The State government, eager to please the demands of the tuna industry, ignored all scientific warnings, and are now trying to convince the public of South Australia, that the disaster was natural, and not the result of poor environmental management and monitoring.

Twelve months later, the same warm Indian summer conditions prevail in South Australia. Windless, sunny days - ideal for the growth of deadly phytoplankton. Over the past few months, almost a dozen blooms have been recorded in the sheltered bays of Boston Bay, and Spencer Gulf and also, Gulf St Vincent, many in areas of key significance for the SA aquaculture industry (ie. Boston Bay, Coffin Bay, Franklin Harbour, Coobowie Bay). However government and industry are failing to adequately monitor these blooms - relying almost solely on the efforts of a single, part-time university student.

The aquaculture industry in SA is proud of its clean, environmental image - the blue farming revolution. If this is the present state-of-the-art monitoring and environmental management efforts of the SA tuna and aquaculture industry - then another catastrophic bloom is just around the corner...

Jean Cannon


Editor's Annual Report

As usual, we managed to publish a Newsletter every month except December when we issue a Journal instead. My thanks to everyone who helped towards these in any way. Special thanks to Phill and Philip for doing most of the hard work required to get these out. Thanks to them both also for the improved quality of our publications. I can't really claim to have been the Newsletter Editor on my own because they have really done most of the work. The Journal was a much more combined effort though, with everyone helping out with that. The new Journal is progressing well thanks to the efforts of Philip Hall.

Steve Reynolds

Editor 1996-7

Sdf Rep's Annual Report

I was able to attend most of the Federation's meetings during the past year. I couldn't take part in their fundraising ball or dive rally though. The Federation has not renewed its affiliation with the Conservation Council and will not participate with the Reefwatch program. They are still trying to obtain the Tancred for an artificial reef and to build steps on the end of the Port Noarlunga jetty. A lot of money will be needed for these two projects though. I may not be able to continue as SDF Rep this coming year.

Steve Reynolds

SDF Rep 1996-7

Library Officer's Annual Report

When our meetings moved from Somerton Park to the Conservation Centre, our library cabinet also had to be moved somewhere. I volunteered to have it at my home but I did not realise just how much I would become involved with its contents. (Just by having the cabinet at my home, I became the Library Officer.) Despite a recent clean-out, the contents of the cabinet needed to be pruned down a bit to accommodate the large amounts of continuosly incoming information. Many items needed to be recorded and filed better. Although my personal life and Society duties keep me very busy, I often sort through the contents of the cabinet. More sorting is still required though. Just filing away the incoming information keeps me busy enough. The whole process is, however, very satisfying and educational. I stated during the past year that I had developed a vision of MLSSA becoming an information source for marine related literature. I suggested that we could be gathering relevant scientific publications and data. We already have lots of information on hand but it still needs some sorting out and publicising. The position of Library Officer for MLSSA is, in my mind, a very important one.

Does anyone know the whereabouts of our starfish identification guide? I haven't seen it for some time. It is a foolscap-size green folder.

Steve Reynolds

Library Officer 1996/7

Kesab Cleanup Officer's Annual Report

We held our Clean Up Australia Day dive at the new Brighton jetty in March this year. There were strong south-westerlies and the seas were rough. We only had four divers but several other members were keen to assist with the clean up. The four divers entered from the shore and swam to the outer end of the new jetty with their hessian bags to fill. Not all of the bags were brought back, however. My first (full) bag was hauled up onto the jetty and I then had to swim after a second bag which blew away when tossed down to me. When the rubbish around the jetty diminished I had my second bag hauled up by Carol who needed some assistance from a passerby. I then exited via the ladder with some extra bits of "rubbish" - a few sinkers, a teaspoon and some small change (22cents). Under the jetty I observed a large Ornate Cowfish male, a Tubemouth, Butterfly Gurnard, Sand Flathead, Red Mullet, Stinkfish and some crabs. Peter Hoskin rushed off down the road to see the Environment Minister, David Wotton, unveil a "sump" nearby. The "sump" was in Edward Street, Brighton. It is the State's first Pollutec unit which removes upto 95% of pollutants from stormwater. It uses the stormwater flow to separate solid particles which are dumped into a sump before the water reaches the ocean. The sump is to be cleaned out regularly and the waste is to be used as landfill. Many thanks to everyone who helped out with the cleanup.

Steve Reynolds

KESAB Cleanup Officer 1996-7

Photo Index Officer's Annual Report

The total number of fish slides in our Photo Index has reached 114 now. That is an increase of 21 since a list was published in our last Journal. The 21 new ones were contributed by David Muirhead and will be detailed in the next Journal issue. Additions to the Index are made possible by the generosity of Duckpond. The Index has been used on several occasions for slide presentations in the past few months.

Steve Reynolds

Photo Index Officer 1996-7


Growing A Mineral Base For Coral Growth

The January 17 issue of "Australian Doctor" told of the use of electricity to create a base that coral could grow on. Dr Karl Kruszenelnicki's "Wierd Science" column tells how magnesium and calcium-based minerals build up when electricity is passed through sea water. A layer of minerals 20cm thick took three years to build up. These acted as a base for corals and other animals to attach to. This mineral accumulation works on old cars, seals off potential toxins and heavy metals, and attracts fish. It is thought that the mineral build up could be harvested as a cheap alternative to concrete blocks. Dr K is the Julius Sumner Miller Fellow at the University of Sydney. Many thanks to David Muirhead for passing this information on to us.


Algal Bloom in Coobowie Bay

Coobowie Bay has a bloom of Enteromorpha, a fine leaved form of "cababge weed" which is prolific in areas of sewage effluent like Bolivar. Coobowie is a low lying township with many blocks inundated or close to inundation at king tides. The impact of this seawater level on septic effluent dispersal has been shown this year with warm weather suitable for algal blooms combined with high levels of tourists and the consequent effluent increase.

This is an area which has 60 hectares of new oyster leases mostly located on the spit on which the cover of Enteromorpha shows up at low tide. The Enteromorpha is also present along much of the shallow shore line between Sultana Point and Port Giles. Long term residents of Coobowie cannot remember having seen the spit and shallows covered in green alga previously and are very concerned.

In view of the Wallace Lakes, NSW, Hepatitis scare, the presence of Enteromorpha indicating the effluent in the bay should be investigated fully.

Jean Cannon


Port Minlacowie Jetty

Over Easter in 1988 twelve society members dived at the site of the old jetty at Port Minlacowie. We followed the stumps of the old jetty piles out to the end. We managed to find some broken bits of old steamship crockery and even an intact crew plate.

The jetty had been built in 1877 at a cost of 4,759 pounds. It was 1150 feet long, Government owned and controlled by the Minlaton District Council. It was destroyed in 1971 according to a cairn on the shore. Peter Gilbert used the cairn to change on after the dive. The coastal ketch "Elizabeth Ann" ran aground close to the jetty in 1911 and the hulk is said to remain there. I returned to look for the hulk in December 1993 but without luck. It was a nice dive though with lots of fish and invertebrates to see in the small area that I was restricted to in the changeable conditions.

Steve Reynolds


Seahorse Sightings

MLSSA member Ron Bellchambers recently told us about sighting 18 White's Seahorses during a dive at Brown's Beach, Innes National Park, Yorke Peninsula. Ron and his family were diving behind the reef at Brown's Beach on February 23rd. There they counted 18 White's Seahorses floating on broken 'sea branches'. Locals at Third Beach, Port Victoria, Yorke Peninsula have told Ron that they have also seen these (same?) little sea creatures. Ron wanted us to pass this information on to Dragon Search. Brown's Beach and Port Victoria are both on the Spencer Gulf (west) side of the Yorke Peninsula. "Coastal Fishes of South-east Australia" says that White's Seahorses, Hippocampus Whitei, may possibly be found in Spencer Gulf. Another fish book, "The Fishes of Australia's South Coast" remarks that "This is a warm water species which occurs rarely on the south coast and then only as individuals carried with floating weed (sea branches?) into the area by southerly currents." This ties in with Ron's sightings. To see eighteen seahorses on one dive would be great! I have seen quite a few on some dives but have not counted so many.

Steve Reynolds


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