WRITTEN BY DAVID LETCH Chain of Bays PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRANT HOBSON Preserving the West Coast of South Australia 2 Contents chapter 1 Preserving a unique coastal area 5 chapter 2 The Wirangu people 11 chapter 3 Living in a wild coastal ecosystem 17 chapter 4 Scientists, surfers, naturalists & tourists 21 chapter 5 Regulating impacts on nature 25 chapter 6 Tyringa & Baird Bay 31 chapter 7 Searcy Bay 37 chapter 8 Sceale Bay 41 chapter 9 Corvisart Bay 47 chapter 10 Envisaging the long term 49 chapter 11 Local species lists 51 chapter 12 Feedback & getting involved in conservation 55 chapter 12 References 57 chapter 12 Acknowledgements 59 Front cover image: Alec Baldock and Juvenile Basking Shark (1990). The taxonomy and traits of many species can remain a mystery. This image was sent to the Melbourne Museum where the species was identified - a rare image collected locally. Back cover image: Crop surrounding a pocket of native vegetation (2009). Much land has been cleared for farming in the Chain of Bays. Small tracts of native vegetation represent opportunities for seed collection and habitat preservation. Connecting these micro habitats is the real challenge. Inside cover: Cliff top vegetation Tyringa (2009). In the Chain of Bays sensitive vegetation clings to the calciferous limestone cliffs. Off road vehicles and quad bikes pose an increasing threat in the Chain of Bays. Right image: Death Adder Sceale Bay (2010). These beautiful and highly venomous reptiles are very rarely seen by local people suggesting their numbers may be low in the area. 3 Chain of Bays - Map Extents STREAKY BAY GIBSON PENINSULA Streaky Bay CORVISART BAY MAP over overall region EYRE PENINSULA GREAT SCEALE BAY AUSTRALIAN Sceale Bay BIGHT SEARCY BAY BAIRD BAY CALCA PENINSULA SOUTH AUSTRALIA ANXIOUS BAY Chain Of Bays Adelaide denotes extent of map enlargement Marine Park Boundary 4 Preserving a unique coastal area chapter 1 The Chain of Bays is a spectacular and There are coastal grasslands and heath a very important refuge and corridor for un-spoilt region on the West Coast of lands, mallee woodlands, and Casuarina a number of threatened plant and animal South Australia, comprised of a series of woodlands; and there are special habitats species. The remoteness of the region and interconnected but greatly contrasting bays such as caves, marine and freshwater limited coastal development has helped (Venus Bay, Anxious Bay, Baird Bay, Searcy springs and soaks. to keep the area in relatively undisturbed Bay, Sceale Bay, Corvisart Bay and Streaky condition. Upwellings and the Leeuwin Current Bay). This book aims to explore the detailed The Chain of Bays provide critical breeding environments of five of these bays as part At sea, the near-shore marine environment habitat for several endangered species. of a process of encouraging preservation, is influenced by the warm Leeuwin Current conservation, economic equality, and in winter and nutrient-rich cool upwellings in Australian sea lions cultural awareness. In this book we the summer months. There is a significant The Australian sea lion, Neophoca cinerea, focus on the western part of Anxious Bay diversity of Southern Temperate marine is now reduced to less than 12,000 (Tyringa) and Baird, Searcy, Sceale and habitats in pristine condition, including individuals, all within the waters of South Corvisart Bays. near-shore limestone reefs and pools, Australia and Western Australia. The largest These bays are of great conservation granite outcrops (“bombies“), deep reefs, populations are in South Australia. In the significance because of their excellent sea grass meadows and algal stands. Chain of Bays, there are two large breeding condition and because they provide critical Significantly, these intact coastal and marine colonies for the Australian sea lion, one habitat for a number of key threatened environments exist together in the Chain located at Olive Island Conservation Park, species, including Australian sea lions, the of Bays, which provide a rare opportunity at the northern end of Corvisart Bay; and Great White Shark, the White-Bellied Sea for the protection of an intact coastal and the other located at Nicholas Baudin Island Eagle and the Osprey. Southern Right marine ecosystem. Conservation Park and Aquatic Reserve, at Whales also migrate through the Chain On the land, the region’s low rainfall, the southern end of Sceale Bay. A smaller of Bays, stopping with their young calves geological structure and coastal processes breeding colony is located at Jones Island to rest en route to and from the Great give rise to a diverse range of plant Conservation Park and Aquatic Reserve, at Australian Bight. communities. Evidence can be found in the the entrance to Baird Bay. The combination of isolation and intact landscape of the ancient geological past and There is also an important “haul-out” ecosystems makes the Chain of Bays a the long association with Aboriginal people, (resting location for sea lions), and unique coastal area. in particular the Wirangu tribe. There is occasional breeding site, at Point Labatt also evidence of landscape change brought Here, we can observe a great diversity of Conservation Park and Aquatic Reserve, in about by European settlement. coastal and marine environments within a Searcy Bay. In addition to providing critical relatively compact geographical area. On Although some areas near the coast have breeding locations, the waters of the Chain the coast, there are spectacular cliffs, stacks been cleared for agriculture, large areas of of Bays provide important foraging and and islands, exposed granite and limestone relatively undisturbed coastal land remain feeding habitat for Australian sea lions. outcrops, and long sandy beaches. Further in the Chain of Bays. These intact coastal Opportunities exist for visitors to view sea inland, there are cliff top dunes, and environments are linked to even larger lions from the viewing platform at Point extensive wetlands and mobile dune fields. remnants inland which make the region Labatt Conservation Park and Aquatic Left image: The Island and Patrick at dawn (2004). “Paddle in” surfers and endangered raptors have happily co-existed at the Island surf break for a quarter of a century. When jet ski tow in surfing arrived in 2008 the resident Osprey nest failed in a few months, birds where found shot and the nest was damaged. Right image: Sceale Bay Conservation Park (2006). This area’s status was upgraded as a result of the efforts of the Friends of Sceale Bay and the South Australian Government. Real biodiversity conservation can only occur within managed park systems. 5 6 Reserve and it is possible to swim with sea species and 39 reptile species (South lions at Baird Bay with Baird Bay Ocean Eco Australian Department for Environment and Tours. Heritage). In addition, there are numerous insects, and marine plant and animal Ospreys and White Bellied Sea Eagles species that have yet to be catalogued in The remote coastal cliffs and offshore detail. There is the exciting possibility that islands of the Chain of Bays provide nesting new discoveries could well be made in this habitat for the Endangered White-Bellied region. Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus leucogaster; and Partly due to its remoteness, many of the Osprey, Pandion haliaetus. These birds are environmental values of the Chain of Bays now very low in numbers in South Australia, remained undiscovered until relatively and are also becoming increasingly rare in recently. This same remoteness may other parts of Australia. Surveys undertaken have contributed to the protection of the since 2003 by raptor expert Terry Dennis area from some of the environmental found that the Chain of Bays coastline impacts experienced elsewhere, but with contained the highest density of nest sites development pressures and numbers in South Australia for the Osprey, supporting of tourists increasing, it is important for up to five breeding pairs. residents and visitors to understand the There are also a significant number of sensitivity of these marine and coastal breeding pairs of White-Bellied Sea Eagle habitats and the species that inhabit them. in the region. Conditions are comparatively favourable for these species in the Chain of Expanding land for conservation Bays because the remote coastal cliffs and In recent years there have been a number of islands provide nesting habitat protected new conservation initiatives in the Chain of from predators and disturbance. The Bays region. When the significance of the convoluted coastline of the Chain of Bays Australian sea lion colony at Nicholas Baudin also provides ideal hunting conditions for Island was discovered in 2001, the site these birds; no matter what the direction of was protected within a new Conservation the wind, sheltered waters may be found Park and Aquatic Reserve. An existing near the nesting sites. Conservation Reserve at Sceale Bay was Considering that less than 40 breeding pairs upgraded to Conservation Park status in of Osprey may remain in South Australia, 2006. Scientific surveys of the Australian it is essential that breeding sites for this sea lion and coastal raptors highlighted species in the Chain of Bays are protected, the significance of the region for these and that visitors avoid any disturbance to species. Attention focused on the need to nesting birds. Numbers of White-Bellied consolidate and link the existing small and Sea Eagle are smaller still, but both species isolated public conservation reserves. may still be observed soaring along the In December 2007, the South Australian water’s edge in search of food. Government released the “Coastlinks” Many other significant species inhabit Report, which recommended the the diverse environments of the Chain of establishment of an extensive coastal Bays. There are 330 recorded plant species conservation area in the Chain of Bays, (242 native), 103 bird species, 22 mammal comprising existing Conservation Parks, Left image: Cape Blanche from the air (2009).