Coastline The Coast Action/Coastcare Newsletter ISBN 1329-0835 Edition 54 Summer 2010/2011 1 State Coordinator’s Message By Matthew Fox, State Program Coordinator It’s always a pleasure to welcome readers to the program has just announced further funding to summer edition. Already the coast is buzzing with enable DSE to continue the program in 2011, so stay activity, with locals and visitors making the most of tuned for announcements on this next year. warmer weather. Warm weather also means that Summer by the Sea On the subject of activity, 2010 has seen a great deal is just around the corner. For the past 17 years, DSE, of community action on the coast, and this summer with the support of volunteers and local experts, issue of Coastline showcases some of this effort. has hosted this statewide program. And so again in With more than 50 projects funded through the 2011 this festival of free coastal events will provide Coastcare Victoria grants program, and many others opportunities for us to celebrate our unique coastal through Caring for our Country, regional NRM bodies environments. and from within local community, the results are Look for Summer by the Sea on Facebook and let us visible right along our coastline. know your thoughts. We look forward to seeing you On the subject of funding, I am pleased to say that out and about in January. the Australian government’s Caring for our Country Contents Coast Action/Coastcare: Supporting State Coordinator’s Message 2 Victoria’s Coastal Volunteers Coast Action/Coastcare celebrates Coast Action/Coastcare is a DSE program that 17 Summers by the Sea 3 supports local communities to contribute Blooming Wildlife on Phillip Island 4 to the protection of Victoria’s coastal Will Climate Change Wipe Out Giant Kelp Forests? 5 environment. The program promotes Protecting Our Seas and Shores 6 stewardship of our coast by supporting Update on the Hood 7 community action such as re-vegetation, There are plenty more fish in the sea… or are there? 8 Surf Coast Marine Debris Initiative 9 protection of threatened species and The Jack and Albert River Restoration Project (JARR) 10 community education. The program provides Habitat Network East Gippsland 10 funding, training and advice to coastal From Granite Gully to Sunshine Reserve 11 volunteer groups right along the coast. Fairhaven Community Coastal Forum Coastline is published four times per year, – Making Connections for the Coast 12 including the annual Summer printed edition. Clonard College Takes Swan Bay to Caloundra 13 To subscribe to Coastline or contribute an Planet Days Transform the Surf Coast 13 article, please contact your local facilitator. Locals Research Mangroves in Kenya 14 To get involved with a coastal volunteer Orchids Bloom at Anglesea 15 group please contact a Coast Action/Coastcare A Quick Roundup on the Action at Capel Sound Beach 16 facilitator (contact details on Page 24). Moolapio Coastal Field Day 16 Sea Searching in the Mangroves 17 Volunteer Committee Oversees Completion of Published by the Victorian Government’s Department of Sustainability and Environment, December 2009 Major Works 18 © The State of Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment 2009 This publication is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process except in accordance Making the Most of Coast to Coast 19 with the provisions of the Copyright Act 1968. Coxy’s Big Summer Break 19 ISSN 1329-0835 Disclaimer — This publication may be of assistance to you but the State of Victoria and its Release of Victorian Coastal Acid Sulfate employees do not guarantee that the publication is without flaw of any kind or is wholly appropriate for your particular purposes and therefore disclaims all liability for any error, Soils Guidelines 20 loss or other consequence which may arise from you relying on any information in this publication. Have You Seen This Seaweed at Your Beach? 20 Authorised by the Victorian Government, 8 Nicholson Street, East Melbourne. Regional Updates 21 Printed by Stream Solutions, Spring Street, Melbourne. For more information contact DSE Customer Service Centre 13 61 86. Calendar of events 23 Coastline Editor: Matthew Fox Coast Action/Coastcare Contacts 24 www.dse.vic.gov.au/coasts 2 Coast Action/Coastcare celebrates seventeen Summers by the Sea Megan Liddicoat, Department of Sustainability and Environment Three hundred free events will be held in 80 locations Bringing people to celebrate Victoria’s coast in the annual Summer by a little closer the Sea festival. Summer by the Sea gives Victorians to nature is the opportunity to discover and appreciate the what these natural wonders of Victoria’s coastal and marine activities are environments. all about. Our coast is an incredibly rich and diverse place. Did you The program promotes respect for the coast, know, for instance, that our coast is home to two environmental stewardship and participation in UNESCO biosphere reserves, five Ramsar wetlands, coastal conservation. Over 100,000 people have 18 wetlands of national significance and 24 marine taken part in Summer by the Sea events over the protected areas? But our coast is under a lot of past 16 years. Summer by the Sea has something for pressure. We hope that by building connections to everyone, and all events are family friendly. coast we can help foster a spirit of stewardship over Activities include rockpool rambles, marine sanctuary these natural assets. snorkel safaris, fishing clinics, kayak tours, geology Summer by the Sea is run by Coast Action/Coastcare adventures and bird watching. Summer by the Sea with the ongoing support of volunteers and local provides opportunities to meet the Maremma dogs experts. who guard little penguins. Try volunteering with Coastcare for a Day, board a boat tour, take a walk Visit www.dse.vic.gov.au/summerbythesea for on the wild side, discover underwater bugs and get more information and to download a copy of this hands-on with marine monitoring. The activities run year’s program, or visit our page at Facebook at for the first three weeks of January 2011. www.facebook.com/summerbythesea. 3 Blooming wildlife on Phillip Island Phillip Island Nature Parks Education Department The penguin breeding season is well underway by gain their distinctive blue waterproof plumage. It is October and soon after that these birds begin laying hoped that, upon release, the birds will recognise the eggs. The Philip Island Nature Park monitors over 300 new burrows as their home and not return to the burrows in study sites; of these, more than half of the carparks. burrows contain adults that are incubating eggs. Several adult penguins have been brought into the The carpark penguin chick program relocates chicks wildlife hospital this month, including one rescued from burrows in hazardous areas and releases from a mud-filled pit in the housing estate. This them into burrows in safer parts of the colony. The penguin required washing for several days to remove chicks require a small period of care in the wildlife layers of hard clay-like mud. Several orphaned water hospital while they lose the last of their down and birds have been brought into the hospital, including a Cape Barren goose gosling that is now thriving and maturing rapidly. A number of injured possums have also been treated by the rehab staff and released. Short-tailed Shearwaters have been busily renovating their burrows after their long flight from the Aleutian Islands near Alaska. Their nightly sunset return is most spectacular through October. Other migratory birds, such as the eastern curlew and the bar-tailed godwits, are also returning to our shores around Western Port. Smaller waders, such as red necked stints, return in November. Education on the Island The Phillip Island Nature Park is a self-funded, not for profit organisation dedicated to the conservation of Phillip Island’s wildlife and natural features. The nature park, which is spread over 1805 hectares, includes four major tourist precincts (Penguin Parade, Koala Conservation Centre, Churchill Island and Nobbies Marine Centre), natural wildlife areas and the entire southern coastline. Phillip Island Nature Park researches and protects numerous indigenous species on the island. Phillip Island Nature Parks Education Department will let your students see the latest research data and techniques or get themselves dirty planting trees, building new penguin homes or exploring wetlands. We have a multitude of environmental programs to suit the needs of your subject. Most are tailored to accommodate middle secondary and senior VCE students, but if, as a primary school teacher, you particularly like the look of a particular talk, we can adapt it to your students’ level. Phillip Island Nature Park Education Department Phone 5951 2802, email schoolbookings@penguins. org.au or look us up at www.penguins.org.au. Shearwaters at night 4 Will climate change wipe out giant kelp forests? Graeme Stockton, Surfers Appreciating the Natural Environment Imagine you are in a forest and life is teeming all around you. The forest canopy stretches some 30 metres above you and as you look up into the filtered sunlight you see myriad life forms going about their daily business within the shelter of their forest home. This description might typically be associated with a tropical rainforest, yet this is also what you would find if you happened to be scuba diving in an area dominated by giant kelp (Macrocystis species). Map one: Global distribution of giant kelp Indeed, the first person to note the exceptional consequently play a key role in providing shelter and biodiversity associated with these kelp beds was food for literally hundreds of species. Charles Darwin. In 1839 he proclaimed that ‘The number of living creatures of all orders, whose Less well known is the fact that Macrocystis lives part existence intimately depends on the kelp, is of its lifecycle as swimming zoospores, and that in wonderful’.