Reefwatcher

November '99 newsletter, Issue 3, number 3

`It's Diving Season!

For all you that have not been in the water recently it's time to take the plunge! Reef Watch needs your help! Reef Watch has organised dives every weekend throughout Summer, with several social events planned as well. Look out for other events including a talk on reef health in SA, the launch of the Reef Watch Dive Club, Sunday social dives and BBQ's (look out for the 'celebrate Christmas and New Year dive'), and not to mention a marathon monitoring dive planned for February. So, we need your help to make this a great Summer, with lots of diving and monitoring. Just think, if everyone just did one survey over Summer…..

Welcome Divers Delight & Coastal Waters Dive Club!

Divers Delight and the Coastal Waters dive club have recently joined the Reef Watch program.

Divers Delight dive club are highly interested in learning about, surveying and protecting the marine environment in South Australia. Reef Watch does such a fantastic job that the dive club decided to join in and support their activities. We had a training night early in September and agreed to do a training dive at Second Valley. Unfortunately, the weather blew in and wiped out all chances of diving, as it did a fortnight later when it was rescheduled. Eventually we managed a training dive at Port Noarlunga on the 17th of October.

The training dive was a success with 15 divers from the club attending, with some divers even doing two dives. We finished off the day with a barbeque at the local park.

ADD PHOTO : Divers Delight club members – geared up and ready to dive!
Divers Delight dive club have adopted two sites for regular surveying – Seacliff reef and the artificial reef "the Dredge". We plan to do a double dive on these two sites at least once every three months. We will also be having more members going through the training and will be attending other Reef Watch activities.

For more information on Divers Delight contact Tara or Trevor on phone: 8363 7518 or mobile: 0412 160 067

Members of Coastal Waters dive club undertook a training session during October. The Club have recently purchased several kits and have selected Grange Tyre reef as their site to adopt. Reef Watch has not received any surveys from this location and look forward to the Club divers sharing their observations. A big thank you to Helena and the rest of the dive club members for their support of the program.

Photo: Tara from Divers Delight with a friendly leafy

Thanks everyone – hope to see lots of surveys in the near future!

Are our Reefs dying????

Calling all Reef Watchers – Are you concerned about the health of Reefs in SA, do you want to know which reefs are healthy and which are dying? Then join other Reef Watchers for a night of being informed by Dr Anthony Cheshire, a Marine Botanist from the University of Adelaide. Dr Cheshire has and is playing a significant role in the development of the Reef Watch program. He has offered to share with us findings from recent Reef Health studies and provide an insight into the health of reefs in SA. If you are concerned about the status of reefs in SA and want to know why your completing surveys, then this is a night not to be missed. The night is scheduled for January 25th. All divers will receive notification closer to the night. For further information contact Sheralee on 8223 5155 or [email protected]

"Species Under the Spotlight"

Western Blue Groper

Phylum: Chordata
Family: Labridae (Wrasse)
Achoerodus gouldii

There are two species of Blue Groper within Australian waters, the Eastern and the Western. The Western species can be found from southern W.A to western Victoria, and the Eastern Blue Groper is distributed from mid Queensland to Victoria. The Blue Groper belong to the Wrasse family and are not related to the true Groper family.

The Blue Groper can be found in up to 40m of water, generally inhabiting coastal reefs and rocky waters, especially deep watered headlands or inshore kelp beds. The Blue Groper is a bottom dweller and prefers to dwell amongst crevices or caves within the reef or rocky habitat. The juvenile tend to be found in shallower and more protected waters.

The Groper can grow up to 40kg and up to 1m in length. The male is a blue colour whereas females are green, and juveniles can range in colour from greyish brown to orange or green.

The Groper prefers to live in groups, however there is only one male in each group at any time, which is always the biggest fish in the group. The rest of the group are females. If a male is no longer present within a group, the dominant female will change colour and sex.

Populations of both Western and Eastern Blue Gropers have declined in recent years. This is believed to be caused by heavy fishing and spearfishing pressure on the species and the vulnerability of these fish due to their large size, edibility and inquisitive nature. The Eastern Blue Groper is now protected in NSW. However, although the Western Blue Groper are less common than the eastern species they are currently not under protection. There is a current bag limit of 2 fish per person per day.

Photo: Western Blue Groper, courtesy of David Muirhead (MLSSA)

Reference: Australian Marine Life by G.J Edgar
Fishfile: Fishinternet Australia, www.fishnet.com.au/fishfile/salt_groperblue

National Water Week

Reef Watch divers (and snorkellers) recently took part in an event hosted as part of National Water Week. There was a total of 22 divers and snorkellers which took part in the day, with two diving sessions. Divers Delight formed a majority of the group, each being exposed to their first look at reef monitoring. Although the visibility was poor, divers were given a quick introduction to methodology and were each provided with a diver's ID chart. Congratulations to Bill who managed get bitten by his dog prior to leaving home, forgot his wetsuit jacket (returned home), completed a lovely jetty jump (lots of sarcasm!), only to loose his fin (we wont mention the language that was shared upon entry!!!) but apparently he had a non eventful dive after that. A big thank you to Divers Delight who provided a free air fill to divers who completed the Reef Watch dive. THANKS! Lets hope more shops can provide this support.

For your information!

Port Noarlunga Stair update
For those of you who have recently visited Port Noarlunga, you would have noticed the stairs missing from the end of the jetty. Port Noarlunga is heavily dived throughout the year and the inability for divers to enter the water via the stairs at the end of the jetty has caused some divers considerable problems.

The steps are currently being repaired and will be back in sometime before Christmas thus being ready for the peak diving period. Another ramp is to be added to the earlier steps which will be placed under the jetty and there will be a ramp arrangement that will have a slope or gradient of 8 degrees. It has been designed to allow the structure to be below the water line at low tide and will connect to the adjoining steps that are being repaired.

Rapid Bay
Rapid Bay is still of major concern to the diving community. The site is a favourite dive location for many divers throughout the State and has great tourism potential. The Scuba Divers Federation recently obtained a Hansard report from Parliament and Mrs Laidlaw which indicated that there are still no funds available to save the dolphins at Rapid Bay and they will have to go. The Scuba Divers Federation are looking to start an active campaign to stop any demolition works on the jetty. Stayed tuned for further updates and how you can help save the Dolphins.

Sink a Wreck
The sink a wreck project is well under way. For all that contributed funds to the project you will be happy to know that it will be launched in the near future.

Information kindly provided by Peter Koszegi and Scuba Divers Federation

Underwater Photography

Interested in learning how to take your own underwater photos, but never had the chance? Adelaide Skin Diving Centre (ASDC) are offering the opportunity to learn how! Join other Reef Watch divers in learning how to use a camera, take great shots and expand your knowledge of local marine life. ASDC supply the cameras and the instructor, all you need to do is sign up for a night of fun!

The course costs $150 which includes full instruction, manual, workbook, loan camera and film and a SSI Certification card. All you need is to have your Open Water diving certification. The camera is a Sea and Sea MX10 and is designed to be used by most inexperienced person. The practical session involves a pool and open water session to practice all you have learnt in the theory session. Why not make it as a Christmas present for yourself! Sign up and join the Reef Watch and Dragon Search Project Officers for a night of exposure!

For further information, please contact Sheralee on 8223 5155 or email: [email protected]

For your information…..

Comments made from consultants hired by a major oil company on their recent trip to Adelaide indicated that the coastal waters of SA are much healthy and have greater critter presence compared to the waters of Port Phillip Bay.

After recent diving trips at Noarlunga and Glenelg tyre reefs Dave believes there is far more growth and invertebrate life present at Glenelg. Perhaps it's something to do with all the nutrient that enters into the water at Christies?

Email contacts

Reef Watch is currently putting together a list of diver email addresses to enable easier contact and provide divers with regular updates, diving details and information about marine issues. If you would like to join the mailing list, you are not already on it, or your email address has recently changed, then please email Reef Watch your address at: [email protected] or [email protected]

Upcoming Dives ~ Summer Series of Dives

New Year resolution: DO MORE SURVEYS FOR REEF WATCH!

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