Reefwatcher

Issue 3, number 1, April 1999

Reef Watch 1999

Welcome all Reef Watchers to a new year of survey dives!

Reef Watch was lucky enough to gain the continued funding and support from Coastcare.

To ensure Reef Watch's continuing success we need more help from you! That means more dives, more input, and assistance in the recruitment of new members.

Thank you to all those Reef Watch divers who continued to submit surveys over the holiday period. A special thanks to Rowena Lewis who so far has submitted the most surveys for Reef Watch. Keep them coming Rowena!

Thank you to James Brook for entering all the survey data into the database, his help was gratefully received.

Lastly, but by no means least, thank you to the continuous support from our Reef Watch divers, including Bill Smith, who has been acting as a Dive Instructor on numerous dives.

Reef Watch dives will continue over the winter period, so for those who don't mind a little cold water, come along and have some fun.

Reef Watch ~ Victoria

The major news since the last newsletter is that the Reef Watch program has now been extended to Victoria. Initial funding for the project was granted by Coastcare. The project is being coordinated by Tim Allen from the Coastal and Community Network. For those planning a dive in Victoria or would like more information contact:

Reef Watch Victoria Coordinator
10 Parliament Place
East Melbourne VIC 3002
Ph (03) 9650 4846.

NERDS - National Environment Recreational Diver Survey

A very similar program to Reef Watch is now under way in New Zealand. The project is at the final stages of finding sponsors and funding to help with the project launch, which will be in June 1999. The project has taken five years to reach a stage where it was ready to launch. A underwater survey trial has been run for the past twelve months at Tiritiri Matangi Island - Hauraki Gulf.

The Reef Watch and NERDS monitoring programs will remain in close contact, allowing for the further development of the monitoring process.

Reef Watch expands

Reef Watch training can now be accessed through several Dive Shops offering the training sessions within the Underwater Naturalist or Marine Ecologist courses. Dive shops including Reef Watch in their courses are:

Adelaide Skin Diving Centre (see Alex)
Glenelg Scuba Diving Centre (see Jason)
Underwater Sports Diving Centre (see Nick)
Southern Diving (see Dave)

A big thank you goes out to these shops for their continued support of the Reef Watch Program.

Any other dive shops who want to take part, please contact the Conservation Council. Reef Watch training is giving to the course instructors and notes provided. Additional support will be given as requested. Alternatively, I can take the Reef Watch component of the course.

Marine Monitoring in Monterey.....

Here's a little bit about one of the projects in America.......

This article was submitted by Dr George Matsumoto. George is the Education and Research Specialist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in the USA. Prior to this he was a lecturer in the Marine Biology Department at Flinders University.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute was found in 1987 to "achieve and maintain a position as a world centre for advanced technology, through the development of better instruments, systems and methods for scientific research in the deep waters of the ocean." A main focus of the Institute is Education of the community and sharing of data. The Monterey Bay Aquarium forms a part of the 12 Marine Sanctuaries in the States.

Sustainable Sea Expeditions

A five-year project of deep water exploration and public education.

This novel five year program started in April 1998 with a $5,000,000 grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Foundation and another $750,000 grant from the national Geographic Society. The goal is to explore all twelve of the U.S National Marine Sanctuaries and the primary vehicle will be the one person DeepWorker submersible. There will be two of these vehicles built by Nuytco Ltd (British Columbia) each capable of reaching 600 metres. The objectives for these expeditions include undertaking the first sustained exploration of the sanctuary system to depths of 600 metres, photo documenting the natural history of each sanctuary's fauna and flora, and establishing the first permanent marine monitoring network in the marine sanctuaries. The first expedition dives will be in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary in April 1999 and I have been lucky enough to be included in the pilot training. These vehicles are incredibly maneuverable and have the capacity for research and education that cannot be accomplished with remote vehicles or standard oceanographic tools. For example, in addition to the research projects, the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Education Panel proposed and had accepted a project entitled "Teacher in the Sea". After an open application process, the panel selected a local high school teacher who is currently going through the pilot training. As part of this project, K-12 students have the opportunity to propose and put together their own project for deployment in the Sanctuary. I am involved with both the research and the educational aspects of this project and would welcome any comments, suggestions, or potential projects that you might have. In closing, I will use the words of Dr. Sylvia Earle, Project Director for the Expedition - Whatever else is achieved, however, the ultimate success will be in the project's overall impact on dispelling ignorance about the sea. With knowing comes caring, and with caring there is hope that an ocean ethic will arise that will secure a sustainable future for ourselves, and for the seas.

Dr Matsumoto can be can be contacted via email: [email protected]

If you would like to learn more about either, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute or the National Geographic Society, please visit their Home Page:
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/seas/index.html/
http://www.mbari.org

or for further information about Dr Matsumoto:
http:/www.mbari.org/~mage

National Science Week 1-9 May 1999

Volunteers required!

This year, Reef Watch will be a part of National Science Week. During this week there will be many events for both families and students. Reef Watch will be undertaking a demonstration and dive at Port Noarlunga. Any divers interested in helping out on the day ie explaining the usage of the kit and partaking in a Reef Watch Survey dive, please contact me as soon as possible. Also feel free to come and have a look and support Reef Watch. You will need to be available on Saturday May 1st from approximately 9am. This event will be publicised as part of Science Week, so we are looking for large numbers of participants.

Reef Watch Dive ~ Hallett Cove & Port Noarlunga

The January and February Reef Watch dives were held at Hallett Cove and Port Noarlunga Reef. The weather on the day of the Hallett Cove dive turned out to be extremely windy and the dive was nearly called off. However, once we reached the dive location, to our surprise the ocean turned out to be near perfect for diving, due to the direction of the wind. After the long walk down through the Conservation Park and onto the beach, the girls (and the guys - even though they didn't admit it) needed to take a little rest. Actually, we were pretty stuffed before we even entered the water. Especially those who were carrying full size tanks and wearing 9mm wetsuits (sorry - I'm sure you know who you are!). The only problem occurred when someone (not mentioning any names) had carried their monitoring dive bag all the way down to the beach but neglected to include all the vital monitoring equipment! Chris was kind enough to return to the cars and collect the misplaced items. Next time we will be sure to get a key to the gate and drive to gear down! Apart from this mishap, the dive went well and we all enjoyed the day.

The Port Noarlunga dive was poorly attended, with only four people attending the dive. A film crew was filming at Port Noarlunga jetty and had funded the Lifesaving Association to put on a junior carnival for background activity. Therefore, needless to say the jetty was closed to the public and there wasn't a car park in sight. Thanks to the very knowledgable Mary-Anne we moved a little further around the coast to the end of the reef and found a perfect diving location. We snorkelled out and dropped down to be greeted by plentiful fish and marine life. It was also encouraging to see the barnacles are slowly growing back after the silting problem. The only question I have to ask from the dive is "who let go of the pencil?" causing Daryl to have to resurface in the hope that we would find the only piece of the pencil we had left.

For those who missed the dive, you missed a good laugh, watching a certain someone (who should have known better) do a lovely slide, over the reef and into the water on the other side. That's what you get for not making it down to the Gap and swimming through the water rather than over the reef!.

Species Under the Spotlight

"Basket Star"

Phylum: Echinodermata
Class: Ophiuroidea
Family: Gorgonocephalidae
The basket star can grow up to 50mm across the centre (not including the arms), with their arms adding another 120mm to their length.

Basket Stars have branched arms which radiates from a soft central disc. These arms are highly flexible, having the ability to be able to flex both up and down as well as from side to side.

They move by the continuous flexing of these arms rather than movement of tube feet (like star fish). Although the basket star does have tube feet present they are no where near as many as the star fish. However they are still functional, using them mostly for feeding, respiration and sensory purposes.

The Asroboa ernae, a species of basket star found in South Australia, ranges in colour from orange-red when alive to grey or bluff when dead or dry.

The Basket Star is nocturnal. During the day, it generally wraps itself into a tight ball or attaches itself to a substrate such as a sponge or rock. While at night, it extends it self out and feeds on small planktonic organisms such as copepods.

The basket star is able to regenerate its arms. If attacked by a fish or other predatory animal, they are easily able to sacrifice their arms and let them regrow.

They generally live on exposed reefs at depths from 0 - 80 metres.

Reference: Australian Marine Life by G.J. Edgar

Buddy List

People are continuing to send in completed forms. A list has been established of divers who are looking for buddies. Please call or email me if you would like to become part of the list, or if you are looking for a buddy in your local area or someone who likes to dive at the same locations.

Marine Life Society of SA

Anyone interested in brushing up their knowledge of the local marine life in South Australia? Then check out the Marine Life Society of South Australia's Home Page. You will find hundreds of pictures of local fish species. The site can be found at: mlssa.asn.au

Training Sessions

Training sessions are continuing at the Conservation Council and through Dive Clubs. Anyone interested in completing the Advanced or the Standard Survey training, please call the Conservation Council or email: [email protected]

Reef Watch has been lucky enough to obtain a collection of slides of all the fish species used in the Reef Watch kit from the Marine Life Society of South Australia. These excellent, up close shots of the fish were taken by David Muirhead (MLSSA) and will provide an excellent tool to assist in identifying marine species. Anyone interested in looking at the slides, in order to become more familiar with the names of the more common fish species, please call me at the Conservation Council to organise a viewing session.

Reef Watch visits Sheidow Park Primary School

Late last month Reef Watch visited Sheidow Park Primary School. A talk was given to year six and seven classes as part of a section of work they were completing on the ocean. The students were very aware of problems occurring in the ocean and the need to maintain and protect what we have left. Their knowledge of the local species and attentiveness during the talk provides the hope that future generations will continue to look after and protect our unique marine environment.

We need YOUR input....

Anyone interested in submitting an article for the next Reef Watcher newsletter, the deadline is June 1st 1999. The article can include anything from describing a recent Reef Watch dive, observations about your adopted site or general information or status of the marine environment. Looking forward to reading your submissions!

TOP