Reef Watch is now publishing a magazine which will be available to members from the librarian. I will include some items from it in our Newsletter from time to time.
Our display at the Royal show really came up trumps. We obtained a first for the Best Planted Marine Aquarium, a first for the Best Cold Water Marine Aquarium and a first for the Marine Aquarium of Australian Marine Fish - Tropical or Cold Water. Even better were the two Championships we were awarded, one for the Champion Marine Aquarium and the other for the Champion Native Fish Display. Many thanks must go to Phill McPeake for all the work he put into this display and to all the others who helped in any way. Last year we only obtained one Championship ribbon, perhaps next year we should aim for three?
Philip Hall
This month's meeting will be held at our usual meeting place, the Conservation Centre at 8 pm on Wednesday 17th September. Our guest speaker will be Brendan Lay. He will be talking about his work with the Coromandel Valley Community Association in building and monitoring trash racks in the Valley on the Sturt River, which eventually flows into the Patawalonga. Some of the results of the survey are quite spectacular and have recently featured in several local newspapers. This should lead to some interesting discussions. It will be an excellent follow up to the talk given recently by Paul Manning from the MFP on the topic of stormwater.
The South Australian Farmers Federation (SAFF) recently sent MLSSA a letter asking for our support in their struggle to stop the importation of cooked chicken meat from areas that have experienced recent outbreaks of Newcastle disease.
I initially could not see how MLSSA was involved but upon reading the letter and leaflet saw that contaminated meat has possibly given a colony of Antarctic Penguins infectious bursal disease. The US Fish and Wildlife Service also reported an outbreak of Newcastle disease which was responsible for the deaths of 1,600 double-crested cormorants in the California Salton Sea National Wildlife Refuge in June.
The letter asks if MLSSA and its members could exert pressure on the Federal Government to say NO to the importation of cooked chicken meat from countries that have experienced recent outbreaks of Newcastle disease. This was discussed at the August Committee Meeting and it was agreed that a pro-forma letter supplied by the SAFF be sent to the Minister concerned - Hon. John Anderson, Minister for Primary Industries.
Philip Hall
Reef Watch is continuing to progress towards getting divers in the water monitoring reefs. After much time, research and thought, artwork for the kit has now been completed and is off to the printers. Over the month of August, weather permitting, the kit will be trialled to enable any practical issues to be sorted out before mass production. This is a very important stage which will ensure the kit is fully prepared and prooftested.
Assuming all goes well, especially the weather, divers should be able to celebrate the onset of Spring by getting back in the water with their Reef Watch Kit.
To accompany the Kit a programme manual is being produced containing all the information divers will need to successfully monitor South Australia's reefs.
Courtesy Reef Watcher
The July Newsletter recorded the whale sightings for June and most of July. These were as follows:-
(SRW = Southern Right Whale)
June
Sun 1 2 SRW's Warnambool, VIC
Wed 4 1 large whale Cape de Coedic, KI
Wed 4 5 SRW's Head of Bight
Wed 4 2 SRW's Fowlers Bay
Sun 8 2 SRW's Tunkalilla Beach
Mon 9 1 SRW Middleton
Wed 11 2 SRW's Apollo Bay, VIC
Fri 13 1-2 large whales Waitpinga Beach
Tue 17 2 SRW's Remarkable Rocks, KI
Tue 17 7-10 SRW's Head of Bight
Fri 20 4 Humpbacks Aldinga Beach
Sat 21 2 SRW's(1calf) Remarkable Rocks, KI
Sun 22 1 SRW Victor Harbor
Sun 22 2 SRW's (1calf) Sorrento Beach, VIC
Sun 22 15 SRW's (1calf) Head of Bight
Mon 23 3 Humpbacks Victor Harbor
Tue 24 3 SRW's Aldinga Beach
Mon 30 2 SRW's Port Lincoln, EP
July
Tue 1 1 SRW Warrnambool, VIC
Wed 2 3 Humpbacks Victor Harbor
Thu 3 3 large whales Normanville
Sat 5 1 SRW Remarkable Rocks, KI
Mon 7 6 SRW's (1calf) Sleaford Bay, EP
Mon 7 20 SRW's (3calves) Head of Bight
Thu 10 2 SRW's (1calf) Warrnambool, VIC
Fri 11 3 large whales Stokes Bay, KI
Sun 13 1 Humpback Whyalla, EP
Mon 14 2 SRW's (1calf) Barwon Heads, VIC
Mon 14 37 SRW's (8calves) Head of Bight
Fri 18 2 SRW's (1calf) Anglesea, VIC
Fri 18 4-5 SRW's Sleaford Bay, EP
Sun 20 2 SRW's Deep Creek, NP
Mon 21 2 SRW's (1calf) Anglesea, VIC
Mon 21 6 SRW's (1calf) Sleaford Bay, EP
Tue 22 30+SRW's (15calves) Head of Bight
Wed 23 1 Humpback Victor Harbor
Wed 23 2 SRW's (1calf) Victor Harbor
Thu 24 1 SRW Victor Harbor
Thu 24 2 SRW's (1calf) Point Tinline, KI
Thu 24 2 SRW's Thistle Island, EP
A redundant sand hopper barge was sunk 6.5km out from the Glenelg boat ramp entrance in April 1984. An old suction dredge called the "South Australian" was also sunk close to the sand hopper barge in January 1985. These two wrecks are known individually as just the "Barge" and the "Dredge". Together, they are referred to as the "Glenelg Barges". Society member David Muirhead likes to dive on the Barges and photograph the many fish species that have gathered around these two artificial reefs. Since 1988 he has been recording the fish species that he has seen there. He has reported sighting 48 species of fish there over the past nine years and has added slides of 35 of these species to the MLSSA Photographic Index. Below is a complete list of the 48 fish species sighted by David on the Dredge or Barge wrecks since 1988. The list also indicates the 35 species that are featured in our Photographic Index. David now has to photograph the remaining 13 species that he has seen at the Barges for adding to the Index. avid's first list of fish sightings on the Barges appeared in our March 1997 Newsletter. An additional seven more species were then listed in our June 1997 Newsletter. This updated list brings the two previous lists together as one, with the added information about those species that feature in our Photo Index.
COMMON NAME FAMILY GENUS SPECIES
Boarfish, Brown-spotted Pentacerotidae Paristiopterus gallipavo
Boarfish, Long-snouted Pentacerotidae Pentaceropsis recurvirostris
Bullseye, Common Pempheridae Liopempheris multiradiata
Cardinalfish, Southern Apogonidae Vincentia conspersa
Catfish, Estuary Plotosidae Cnidoglanis macrocephalus
Coral Fish Chaetodontidae Chelmonops truncatus
Cowfish, Shaw's Ostraciidae Aracana aurita
Drummer, Silver Kyphosidae Kyphosus sydneyanus
Flathead, Dusky Platycephalidae Platycephalus fuscus
Flathead, Tassel-snouted Platycephalidae Thysanophrys cirronasus
Garfish, SA Hemiramphidae Hyporamphus melanochir
Globe Fish Diodontidae Diodon nicthemerus
Grubfish, Spotted Mugiloididae Parapercis ramsayi
Grubfish, Wavy Mugiloididae Parapercis haackei
Gurnard Perch, Gulf Scorpaenidae Neosebastes bougainvilli
Leatherjacket, Blue-tailed Monacanthidae Eubalichthys cyanoura
Leatherjacket, Horseshoe Monacanthidae Meuschenia hippocrepis
Leatherjacket, Mosaic Monacanthidae Eubalichthys mosaicus
Leatherjacket, Pygmy Monacanthidae Brachaluteres jacksonianus
Leatherjacket, Rough Monacanthidae Scobinichthys granulatus
Leatherjacket, Six-spined Monacanthidae Meuschenia freycineti
Leatherjacket, Spiny-tailed Monacanthidae Bigener brownii
Leatherjacket, Velvet Monacanthidae Parika scaber
Leatherjacket, Yellow-striped Monacanthidae Meuschenia flavolineata
Ling, Rock Ophidiidae Genypterus tigerinus
Moonlighter Microcanthidae Tilodon sexfasciatum
Morwong, Dusky Cheilodactylidae Dactylophora nigricans
Morwong, Magpie (Perch) Cheilodactylidae Goniistius vizonarius
Mullet, Red Mullidae Upeneichthys porosus
Old Wife Enoplosidae Enoplosus armatus
Pike, Long-finned Dinolestidae Dinolestes lewini
Rock Cod, Bearded Moridae Pseudophycis barbata
Roughy Trachichthyidae Trachichthys australis
Salmon, WA Arripidae Arripis truttaceus
Seaperch, Black-banded Serranidae Hypoplectodes nigrorubrum
Silverbelly Gerreidae Parequula melbournensis
Toadfish, Ringed Tetraodontidae Omegophora armilla
Tommy Rough Arripidae Arripis georgianus
Trachinops, Yellow-headed Plesiopidae Trachinops noarlungae
Trevally, Silver Carangidae Pseudocaranx dentex
Whiting, King Geo. (Spotted) Sillaginidae Sillaginodes punctata
Whiting, Silver (Sthn.School) Sillaginidae Sillago bassensis
Wrasse, Black-spotted Labridae Austrolabrus maculatus
Wrasse, Blue-throated Labridae Notolabrus tetricus
Wrasse, Brown-spotted Labridae Pseudolabrus parilus
Wrasse, Castelnau's Labridae Dotalabrus aurantiacus
Wrasse, Senator Labridae Pictilabrus laticlavius
Zebrafish Girellidae Girella zebra
STEVE REYNOLDS Photo Index Officer 1997-8
The turnout at our August General Meeting was a great surprise following the disappointingly low attendance at our July meeting. All eleven of the regulars came along. Ron and Sandra Bellchambers were there also with their daughter and her boyfriend. Steven Mele paid us a visit, having been introduced to us by Dragon Search. We discussed many topics of interest. The main topic for the evening though, was (the effectiveness of) artificial reefs. We will have a guest speaker from SARDI to talk about this subject at the November meeting. We had a quick drinks break then we sat down to one of David Muirhead's underwater slide sessions. We picked out slides for inclusion in our Photo Index. The index has now been expanded to include invertebrates and algae. David showed us lots of relevant slides and many of them were ideal for our Index. Those slides selected will now be copied in duplicate for inclusion in the Index. The total number of slides should altogether reach well over 150. This would mean that the Index will have increased by ten times in just over one year. It is great to see that we are now making such great progress with this project which had just sat in limbo for many years. Thanks again to David for providing his slides and showing them to us all at last month's meeting.
Steve Reynolds
We have been busy lately communicating with Rob Kerin, the Minister for Primary Industries. In a letter at the end of July he gave his reasons for decisions to issue Leafy Seadragon collecting permits. It was a very interesting letter and we noted with interest his support for:-
- Collection of syngnathids for supplying aquariums with well developed facilities striving to develop a population of genetically variable animals.
- Development of an Australian captive breeding colony of Leafy Seadragons.
- Collection of egg bearing male Leafy Seadragons to establish a sustainable "closed life cycle" breeding program, limiting the number of adults taken from the wild while providing the maximum number of juveniles born in captivity and reared by the adult.
Some of our questions, however, remain unanswered. We have since asked Mr Kerin for the name of the well developed facilities undertaking long-term breeding programs and the Australian company who are well advanced in the development of a self-sustainable Leafy Seadragon program.
In his last letter to us, Mr Kerin quite rightly pointed out that Amanda Vincent recommended the development of captive breeding programs (for seahorses). In her executive summary in the TRAFFIC report "The International Trade in Seahorses" she said that the "conservation and management of seahorses would benefit from a series of integrated measures" including "developing . . aquaculture projects in seahorse extraction areas". This was discussed further in her full list of recommendations, particularly under the heading "Culturing seahorses" on page 153, but she also warned that "captive breeding and sea ranching . . options . . should not be considered panaceas".
We find her recommendations on page 153 regarding "Habitat protection and reserves" more appropriate for seadragons. i.e. habitats "must be protected and managed wherever possible" and "reserves should be set up wherever possible to protect . . habitats".
We have now asked whether these recommendations will also be acted upon by the Government. We have also said that it had been suggested that areas of the Fleurieu Peninsula be excluded from collecting permit conditions and we are wondering what restrictions there are for permits being issued now? We will publish Mr Kerin's answers when they are available.
Steve Reynolds
In the July edition of Reefwatcher, two views on the setting up of artificial reefs were printed. This is in response to the Environment, Resources and Development Committee inquiry into the establishment of a network of artificial reefs off the South Australian coast. The recommendations will be put to State Parliament later this year. This month we publish the views of SARDI with the views of The SDF to follow in October.
" The position of the SARDI Aquatic Sciences on artificial reefs has recently been publicised in conjunction with a parliamentary inquiry. As our position is apparently in conflict with those expressed by recreational divers, some explanation seems warranted.
When artificial reefs are proposed for fisheries purposes, the reason generally follows the line that increased habitat will increase fish production and therefore increase fishing success - either recreational or commercial. The question whether these reefs actually increase production (ie add biomass to the existing stocks) or whether they simply aggregate existing populations is one of the most frequently asked throughout the world. From the volume of international literature available on the subject, based on many different ecosystems, little evidence is available to suggest production is increased. It appears likely therefore that artificial reefs aggregate existing fish populations. Because their location is well known by recreational anglers, artificial reefs are heavily fished. As a consequence, fish stocks are vulnerable to overexploitation. On this basis, and strictly from a fisheries management perspective, more artificial reefs are not supported.
This line of reasoning does not preclude support for reefs constructed as recreational diving sites. In fact there are good reasons for separating the two uses, having personally been diving on the Glenelg Dredge recently when a fishing boat anchor was thrown onto the aft deck."
David McGlennon
Fisheries Scientist - SARDI Aquatic Sciences
On the 30th of July I had my first SCUBA dive for some time and the first since my operation earlier this year. I teamed up with a newly found friend who is a member of the Zanoni Dive Club of Ardrossan. This club has the same name as the wreck Zanoni, which is located not far from Ardrossan. The club has been, and still is, working with the State Government to protect the wreck and slow its decay.
We headed off to Ardrossan to meet up with Andrew and his brother, to do a dive at the Ardrossan Jetty. However when we met the decision was made to try the Edithburgh Jetty instead. Seeing that it was a superb day I was happy to go along for the extra kilometers to see what the big deal was about diving at this location. On arriving at the Edithburgh Jetty we were met with calm seas, clear skies and perfect visibility, not to mention the just above freezing water!
After suiting up and checking each others dive gear we headed down the steps to the chilly water. After entering, the first thing I noticed was the excellent underwater visibility we were in for on this dive.
The creatures we observed included large star fish, spider crabs, Ornate Cowfish Banded Sweep, Red Mullet and we also saw some Big Bellied Seahorses. To top off the dive we found a very healthy large Leafy Seadragon. It was living in some weed on the inside of one of the outer jetty uprights. All in all it was an excellent day.
Ron Bellchambers - Edithburgh 30/7/97
Any interested Reef Watchers are invited to attend bi-monthly meetings at the Conservation Council. Benefits include:-
October 8th December 10th
Time: 7 to 8 pm. Enter via the rear door.
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