Gulf St Vincent a precious asset

Gulf St Vincent a precious asset

Introduction It is more than 170 years since Since that time, the Gulf has We need these people, and other sailed up the eastern provided safe, reliable transport for members of the Gulf community, side of Gulf St Vincent, looking for most of our produce and material to share their knowledge, to the entrance to a harbour which needs, as well as fresh fish, coastal make all users of the Gulf aware had been reported by the explorer, living, recreation and inspiration. of its value, its benefits and its Captain , and the In return we have muddied its vulnerability. It is time for us all to whaling captain, John Jones. waters with stormwater, effluent learn more about Gulf St Vincent, He found waters calm and clear and industrial wastes, bulldozed to recognise the priceless asset enough to avoid and to its , locked up under we have, and to do our utmost to safely anchor through the spring houses and greedily exploited its reverse the trail of destruction we gales blowing from the south-west. marine life. Just reflect a moment have left in the last 100 years. Perhaps even he saw eagles on what in particular, and The more we know of the Gulf, fishing or nesting in the low trees South as a whole, would its physical nature and marine life, and bushes on the dunes, which be like without Gulf St Vincent, to the more readily we recognise extended along the from realise the importance of the Gulf the threats posed by increasing Brighton to the . to our wellbeing. Suppose that we urban development and the more were unable to swim in the Gulf, In ‘a Gulf so accessible and devoid effectively we can lobby for the walk along its magnificent , Gulf’s protection. of dangers, with a harbour secure catch fish, enjoy the wonderful against every wind’ he had found coastline and participate in all This document describes the Gulf as the perfect site for a city, with the water sports we now take for it was when Colonel Light selected abundant streams of fresh water granted. What if we had to travel a site for Adelaide, what it is like running from the hills across the hundreds of kilometres to enjoy now, and what it could be in the fertile , ‘losing themselves these uses? How would this affect future. It is intended to be both in the reeds and swamps behind our quality of life? informative and thought provoking, the dunes’. increasing the awareness of the Already there are community South Australian community and its groups in coastal centres around government agencies of the need to the Gulf who monitor, care for protect this very precious resource. and sustain the important beaches and vegetation which buffers the Gulf from land-based impacts.  What is Will the Gulf Gulf St Vincent to you? meet our expectations • great swimming beaches • for fishing • places to catch fish • bathing water quality and walk miles in the shallows • clean sandy beaches to rake crabs next summer... • blue water and a breeze • a complex marine environment • a salt resource for industry What about the future? • a corridor for container ships In 50 years time, will the next • a dump for stormwater generations be able to and wastewater • swim in clear, clean water and • a world class sailing venue play safely on the ? • a great view from the window • fish from a boat, a jetty or the • a special place to be... beach and catch seafoods that are safe to eat? What else? • walk barefooted along the sand and in the shallows without injury from broken bottles and other beach litter? • watch dolphins playing near the coast? • discover a new world of plants and animals in a pool? • explore systems and forests? • look out over blue water and see fishing boats, cargo ships and yachts passing by? Will the quality of Gulf waters still be good enough to support all of the things we take for granted now?

 Sandra Elms Sandra NRMB AMLR / Doyle Bill

An old Gulf? In the past couple of million years there have been many climate- sea level cycles, each of which has caused the draining and refilling of the South Australian gulfs. 125,000 years ago, sea level in the Gulf was about two metres higher than it is now, but the sea gradually retreated as the climate became colder, and the water was frozen into glaciers and ice sheets. Then for about 50,000 years the Gulf was a dry , sloping down to a central salt lake in the deepest part, about 20 kilometres west of Port Noarlunga. About 20,000 years ago, at the beginning of our period of global warming, the sea level began to rise again, for at least 80 metres before it began to flood our Gulf. Evidence for this is found in sediment cores taken from the seabed. As well as marine and terrestrial (land) sediments, these contain small shells, mostly less than 1mm in diameter, of animals called Foraminifera, with different species characteristic of seagrass beds, shallow water and deeper water environments, so that they provide a record of changes in depth of the Gulf. The gulf reached its present level around 6,700 years ago, after rising From top: Elphidium crispum, at a rate of about 24mm per year. Peneroplis planatus and Spiroloculina antillarum, Foraminifera Images from top: S Elms, S Elms, MLSSA, S Elms, MLSSA Elms, S MLSSA, Elms, S Elms, S top: from Images Bill Doyle / AMLR NRMB AMLR / Doyle Bill Courtesy John Cann John Courtesy from two million years ago  With permission from the Art Gallery of , Adelaide Australia, South of Gallery Art the from permission With Coast scene near Rapid , sunset, natives fishing with nets, c1847, JW Giles, 1801–1870, after George French Angas, 1822–1886, hand coloured lithograph Gulf people For thousands of years before spent just five In the next year (1803) Baudin European navigators arrived, and days, in March 1802, charting the bought a smaller schooner, the while the sea level was slowly rising coast and naming it the ‘Gulf of Casuarina, built in Port Jackson for to fill the Gulf, Aboriginal people St Vincent’, in honour of Admiral inshore surveys, and placed 24-year- lived around the coast, catching fish Lord St Vincent. old in command in the shallows during summer, and His only landing was near Port of the Casuarina, allowing him just moving inland for shelter, firewood Wakefield. After anchoring the 20 days to chart the coast of both and hunting during winter. The Investigator off Mangrove Point, gulfs. (The strict time limit was Aboriginal name for the Gulf was near Price on the western side, he because of their small supply of ‘Wongajerla’. and the botanist, Mr Brown, used fresh water). Freycinet named the When European settlers and the dinghy to reach the very top two gulfs ‘Golfe Bonaparte’ and convicts arrived on the eastern of the Gulf, where he reported ‘Golfe Josephine’ after the French coast of Australia and in Tasmania no great river, but many stingrays Emperor and his consort. in the early 1800s, the southern in the shallows. One of the ship’s So there have been several names coast of Australia, between artists, Ferdinand Bauer, painted the for our Gulf: Westernport and Nuyts beautiful Blue Swimmer Crab which • Wongajerla (Aboriginal) (off Streaky Bay) was still called ‘the we still find in northern waters of • Gulf of St Vincent (Flinders, 1802) unknown coast’. In 1802, Matthew the Gulf. • ���������������������Golfe de la Mauvaise Flinders in the Investigator, As he left the gulf, heading east (Baudin, 1802) and Nicholas Baudin, leading for Port Jackson, Flinders met • Golfe Josephine (Freycinet, 1803) a French scientific expedition in Baudin in Le Géographe, in the But only ‘Gulf St Vincent’, the name Le Géographe, arrived here with bay he named ‘’, orders to determine if a large river Flinders gave it, is used on charts and showed Baudin his charts of today. ran from the south coast to the the two gulfs. Baudin entered our , dividing the Gulf the next day. During the night continent into two halves. So both the French ship encountered such captains had to explore the full strong winds and high that the length of both gulfs. crew had to stay on watch all night taking depth soundings to avoid running aground, so Baudin called it ‘Golfe de la Mauvaise’ because of the fatigue it caused his men, and headed for the open sea!

 The hatch boat, carried on the brig Rapid A site for a city The Gulf of St Vincent was known In 1836, William Light’s task was to smooth water, in the heaviest gale, in England for some years before examine the entire coast of South and not one day lost in any season William Light’s voyage. Flinders Australia from to the of the year.” noted, while charting the Gulf, that Murray mouth, including Kangaroo (This is now our terminal for the eastern of this gulf was , to select the best site for container ships). much more fertile than Spencer the main settlement, the city of The choice of Gulf St Vincent for Gulf and it is likely that his botanist, Adelaide. the first official settlement of South Robert Brown reported similar Rejecting Port Lincoln and Nepean Australia eventually saw over a observations when he reached Bay on because million people concentrated across England in 1805. of the lack of water and poor the . It is their The English Captain, Collet Barker, soil, Light drew up a comparison ‘footprint’ that has had the major was instructed to examine Gulf St between the two gulfs, to convince human effect on the Gulf to this day. Vincent to discover if there was the Board of Commissioners in a leading to the River England of his reasons for choosing Murray. In 1831, Barker sailed Gulf St Vincent as the site for a city. the Isabella up our Gulf as far His points in favour of Gulf St as Port Gawler. His party landed Vincent were: at what is now Port Noarlunga, followed the , “There are no obstructions (to and climbed Mount Lofty. They ships) whatever, and it is certainly saw the fertile plain between the more sheltered from westerly winds hills and the sea, and the than Gulf Spencer.

which later became the Port River, “Should a vessel be at the mouth of Light William but were disappointed to find that Gulf St Vincent when a gale comes The hatch boat in Creek, 1836 this inlet was not a passage to the on, she may steer right up the gulf River Murray. Other reports of the even in the night by compass, and inlet and fertile plains came from the farther she goes, the less sea a Captain John Jones, a whaler, she will have... and a Captain John Hart, a sealer “The harbour in Gulf St Vincent in Bass , who claimed to have is long and more like a river, and been “on the plains where Adelaide

sheltered from every wind. Centre Air Coast South / Rowlands Brian now stands” in 1833, and provided The southern coast of Gulf St Vincent sailing instructions for Colonel Light “In the harbour above Holdfast in 1835. Bay (the Port River), a ship once in, may lay alongside a wharf when it is erected, and until that time land her cargo in boats in perfectly

 Neville Skinner / MLSSA MLSSA / Skinner Neville London Museum, History Natural the of permission with Reproduced A school of Old Wives Ferdinand Bauer, Portunus pelagicus (Blue Swimmer Crab)

How much do we know about the biological communities in the Gulf? The botanist Ferdinand von Mueller In 1964 a biologist and a geologist began to investigate Gulf St Vincent started to map the substrate and on the day he arrived, collecting benthic communities of Gulf St two species of the marine plant Vincent and . Sargassum from ‘the ocean gulf’ This appears in the Natural History before his ship berthed at the port of the Adelaide Region published of Adelaide on 15 December 1847. by the Royal Society in 1976. This Eleven species dated 16 December detailed investigation forms the 1847 are among his collections basis of more recent biogeographic held at the National Herbarium surveys by SARDI which have of Victoria. revealed the decrease in areas of Fish from Gulf St Vincent were razorfish, scallops and seagrasses collected for the first curator of in the Gulf (diagrams on page 18). the South Australian Museum in Some of the very different 1860, and five new genera and habitats found in the Gulf are: fifteen new species were described • Intertidal by Castelnau in 1872 and 1873. • and , with By 1973, at least 210 species had tidal channels been recorded from the Gulf. • rocky reef platforms with many The ecology of the margins of the plants and animals attached Gulf between high and low water • seagrass meadows in shallow level, and the influence of on water the vertical extent or zonation of • deep water communities of intertidal organisms, was described sponges, sea squirts, scallops, by Womersley and Edmonds in bryozoan corals and brachiopods 1958. Their paper related the • Pinna (razorfish) communities communities of plants and animals Bill Doyle / AMLR NRMB AMLR / Doyle Bill with rich epifauna The rocky coast west of Myponga Beach to sandy and muddy beaches in the on the Fleurieu northern part of the Gulf and to the • tyre reefs and old shipwrecks rocky shorelines in the south. These • Bare sand and shoals habitats were further classified into • Malleus – Pinna assemblage high energy, moderate and low (hammer oysters and razorfish) wave energy . These habitats are described in detail in the Natural History of Gulf St Vincent.  How much do we know about the Gulf? How does the Gulf behave? Since then we have gained details The of tidal and wind-driven water of the Gulf includes: circulation, water chemistry, turbidity, prevailing winds, geology, • bathymetry (depth contours) stratigraphy, sediments, and the • tidal rhythms (predictions of direction of sand movement along levels and times) the coast. • changes in sea level • water temperatures and salinity The work on sand movements profile variations at depth. along the metropolitan coast is • patterns of water circulation fundamental to the management (numeric models) of beach sand resources, as well as • current speed and direction predicting the impacts of coastal Courtesy National Library of Australia, Canberra Canberra Australia, of Library National Courtesy • weather patterns and winds. structures. Our knowledge of the physical François Péron, chief scientist Studies have also included on Baudin’s ship, Le Géographe characteristics of Gulf waters modelling of water circulation, owes much to the painstaking and salinity and temperature in the meticulous work of the early naval Port River and , the open sea is reduced by the surveyors, such as Flinders, Péron and modelling the dispersion formation of salinity and sea and Freycinet in 1802. of stormwater plumes on the surface temperature gradients François Péron, the chief scientist metropolitan coast. across the mouth of the Gulf. What on Baudin’s ship, measured the Tidal movement in Gulf St Vincent effect would brine discharges from temperature of the sea surface, day almost ceases during dodge tides a desalination plant have on this and night, and at great depths, and which can occur twice in a month. water exchange? compared it with the temperature Land-based discharges have less of the air, for the entire voyage of dilution and dispersion at these Le Géographe. He even devised a times. way of insulating his thermometer The Gulf also acts as an ‘inverse so that the temperature reading estuary’, becoming more saline would not change as he pulled it up at the top, or northern end. In from the depths. He also measured summer the exchange of water the salinity of the seawater at between Gulf St Vincent and different depths. 008 P Petrusevics Petrusevics P Petrusevics P 2 , RSSA RSSA , Natural History of Gulf St Vincent St Gulf of History Natural P Petrusevics, derived from MODIS Aqua database, reproduced from from reproduced database, Aqua MODIS from derived Petrusevics, P

Seasonally averaged sea surface temperatures for Gulf St Vincent, summer 2002/2003, winter 2003  Is the Gulf healthy now? Chris Hall / MLSSA MLSSA / Hall Chris Do Troubridge , at the Posidonia Seagrass • clear water southwest entrance to the Gulf, has • thriving seagrass meadows a historic lighthouse and is a haven • good fishing for seabirds, its sandy shoreline only • the presence of dolphins changed by the wind and waves. indicate a healthy Gulf? The Orontes Bank, a long sand Do bar – with outcropping • algal blooms reefs running north and south – Kevin Smith / MLSSA MLSSA / Smith Kevin • muddy coastal waters on the western side of the Gulf, Bottlenose Dolphin • dead mangroves is shaped by the tidal currents and • bare sediments? colonised by thriving seagrass beds. mean the Gulf is not healthy? 25 sea miles from Outer Harbour, The most degraded areas are it is almost unknown except to probably along the Adelaide navigators and fishers. coastline, and areas which have The extensive delta of the River been scraped repeatedly by trawl Light, deposited in a wetter climate

nets. The reefs off the Adelaide thousands of years ago, is still an MLSSA / Muirhead David coastline are suffering from inaccessible wilderness of mud and Western King Prawn turbidity and direct human impacts. mangroves, vital to the maintenance But other areas appear almost of juvenile fish, crabs and prawns. untouched, providing glimpses Salt Creek Bay north of of the marine habitat Matthew with extensive seagrass Flinders and Colonel Light must meadows, is an important fisheries have observed. nursery area. Some of these special areas of Gulf St Vincent are shown on the map. Will they be protected in the future? Bill Doyle / AMLR NRMB NRMB AMLR / Doyle Bill Near the mouth of the Gawler River on the north coast of Adelaide Brian Brock Brian Bill Doyle / AMLR NRMB NRMB AMLR / Doyle Bill , commonly known as the grey mangrove, occurs in the intertidal Samphire (Sarcocornia quinquefolia), found in  zones of estuarine areas of the Gulf and provides a habitat for many other organisms salt and at the high tide mark of beaches Samphire Northern Gulf Wading birds Nov– Mar Port Clinton M M Mangroves Port Wakefield CC Special areas G Geological site M M in Gulf St Vincent Wills Creek Sandy Point W Ship wrecked before 1900 Port Price Mangrove Point Army Proof Range W Historic ship wreck Weapons Testing Coastal conservation park Tiddy Widdy Beach CC / Tit:awit:awit Special areas

Ardrossan Port Parham Jetties

No Trawling Great Sandy Point Rogues Point W Prawn larvae Oct – Feb

Pine Point M Light G W Long Middle Beach la 10 m u Black Point / Kulaworti Blue Crab larvae o M Oct – Mar north of 35 S Gawler River G 20 m enins Port Julia W P Orontes Port Gawler CC Bank Pied Cormorant M North Spit Mar – Jun ➞ Effluent orke Aquatic Reserve Y G W W Port Vincent Outer Harbor / Muldang M W Barker Inlet Middle Spit 30 m Black Faced Shag Jan – Jun Port River Estuary Port Adelaide G Stansbury Henley Beach River TorrensAdelaide South Spit W Effluent ➞ Prawn larvae Oct–Feb Glenelg / Patawiljangk Wool Bay Wading birds ➞ Brighton / Wiuwa’ta:ngk Nov–Mar / Ku:bawi Springs CC and Monument G Port Giles ➞ Shipping Marino / Mar:ina Salt Creek Bay Oil Refinery Troubridge Hallett / Kareildung Edithburgh / Para:marati Lighthouse G Effluent ➞ Christies Beach Sultana Point W W W Marion Reef W G Onkaparinga River CC W Aquatic Reserve W G Jul–Feb Pt Noarlunga / Tainbara:ng Pied Cormorant Mar–Jun Caspian Aug–Feb W Moana CC CC Ochre Pits W Maslins Beach WW G Aquatic Reserve WW Port Willunga CC WW Aldinga Beach / Ngadengga Investigator Strait G G Sellicks Beach / Witawali Ferry Myponga G Head / Karika:lingga Yankalilla Bay W Normanville / Maika’banangk WW ula Rapid Bay / Ngutarangk W enins Whiting spawn G Wirrina u P Whiting spawn rie Mar – Jun Second Valley le u Mar – Jun F

B ackstairs

Cape Jervis / Parewara:ngk

Kingscote P 

Kangaroo Island Ferry assage Karta

Penneshaw Andrew Melville Andrew V Neverauskus V Posidonia (above) and a healthy seagrass bed of Posidonia and Amphibolis (top right) Heavy growth of epiphytes on Amphibolis The seagrass story Why is seagrass so important? So if the seagrass goes... Why have we lost 4,000 Seagrasses are flowering plants • Sand held by the roots is free hectares of seagrass from which spread with runners under to be eroded away. Adelaide’s coast? the sand, like a giant lawn. Their • Seafloor means deeper Studies commissioned by the EPA seeds float, disperse with the tides water, increased wave energy, found that about 4,000 hectares and wind, and wash up on the and more sand moves north, of seagrass have been lost over a beach. Like all plants, they need depleting the beaches. period of 50 years, with the biggest plenty of light to grow, so thrive in • The coralline algae which grow losses occurring between the late clear waters and coastal shallows. on seagrass leaf blades no longer 1960s and mid-1970s. Loss is still After many years of research on supply their carbonate shell happening. As a result of these the interdependence (ecology) component of our beach sands. findings, a study to determine of plants and animals in Gulf St • We lose the small crustaceans, the causes of seagrass loss, The Vincent, marine scientists now fish, worms and shellfish which Adelaide Coastal Waters Study know that seagrass meadows shelter and feed among the leaf (ACWS), was undertaken by a team are of fundamental importance blades both in the sea and on of marine scientists led by the CSIRO. to the whole Gulf. As well as the beach. The final report of the four-year binding the sand and providing • The whiting and other fish which investigation stated that: ‘cover,’ camouflage and sheltered feed on the shrimps and worms ‘All the evidence points to the places to live for fish and other will disappear. key role of nitrogen loads in marine animals, studies of carbon • Our Gulf loses its remarkable causing nutrient enrichment isotope ratios in seagrass show range of seahorses, pipefish and of coastal waters, growth of that although few fish eat seagrass sea dragons which have evolved epiphytes, and (perhaps) direct directly, most of their food in the seagrass and kelp beds, effects on the seagrasses.’ organisms ultimately depend on and are recognised by scientists around the world. More are still Historical records of nitrogen loads the bacteria which thrive in dead also showed that seagrass losses were seagrass washed up on the beach. being discovered and named. • And the fishes like the herring widespread after the loads increased (tommy ruffs) and ‘salmon’ which to about half the present levels. migrate from Western Australia, Turbidity was also considered a would lose part of their habitat. contributing factor in seagrass loss.

Left: Total loss of seagrass Far left: Heavy growth of epiphytes 10 on seagrass Where does the nitrogen Turbidity come from? Turbidity (muddy water) is also There are two main sources bad for seagrass. Stormwater of nitrogen in Gulf St Vincent discharges are a major source of – wastewater treatment plants the suspended and soluble (WWTP) and industry. coloured matter that reduce the The ACWS final report 2( 007) on light available for seagrass growth. the key role of nitrogen in seagrass Plants won’t grow in the dark! loss lists Bolivar WWTP, the Penrice On Adelaide’s coast, the muddy Soda industry on the Port River, water is trapped close to shore and the Glenelg WWTP, making a at less than five metres depth, total of 2,350 tonnes nitrogen per and moves north and south with Brian Rowlands Rowlands Brian year to metropolitan waters. This is the tides, often stirred up by the Old Wives schooling over seagrass beds compared with the estimated load prevailing winds. of 50– 80 tonnes per year before So, with the combined effects urban settlement. of nitrogen discharges and A nitrogen isotope study by SARDI muddy waters, we have lost shows that the waters north of 4,000 hectares of seagrass from Outer Harbor are most likely to be Adelaide’s coastal waters. affected by the Penrice and Bolivar discharges. Waters south of Outer What can be done to save the Harbor to Semaphore are likely to seagrass? be affected by Penrice, while in the The recommendations of the ACWS Brighton-Glenelg area the nitrogen are quite definite on the necessary source is the Glenelg WWTP. action. 1 As a matter of priority, steps Why does nitrogen kill must be taken to reduce seagrass? the volumes of wastewater, Seagrasses always have a light stormwater and industrial feathery growth of algae (known inputs into Adelaide’s coastal as epiphytes) on their leaf blades. environment. These small plants absorb the extra 2 The total load of nitrogen nitrogen fertiliser directly from the discharged to the marine water and grow so thickly that environment should be reduced they block light from the seagrass to around 600 tonnes (a 75 per leaves and reduce their growth. cent reduction on 2003 load of As the algae grow bigger they also 2,400 tonnes) drag on the seagrass leaves until 3 Commensurate with efforts to those leaves break off. The seagrass reduce the nitrogen load, steps roots and stems beneath the sand should be taken to progressively will survive for a few years, but reduce the load of particulate eventually exhaust their food stores. matter discharged to the marine Seagrasses may take hundreds of environment. A 50 per cent load years of favourable conditions to reduction (from 2003 levels) would regenerate. be sufficient to maintain adequate light levels above seagrass beds for most of the time.

We know what to do to save the seagrasses in Gulf St Vincent, so let’s get on with it! seanotes Two types of seagrass found in the Gulf,

Halophila (above) and Zostera ( below) – DEST 11 Courtesy Tony Kearney Kearney Tony Courtesy Harbison Pat Trading ketches, the fastest trade route before roads were built, faster than carting goods by Old lime kiln on the at Wool Bay bullock wagon!mid-1800s A useful trade route for early settlers What we know as Port Adelaide The wrecking of two ships, the In 1855, flat-bottomed barges – the river, and the land – did not Dart and the Parsee in 1838 on were used to bring stone from exist in 1836. To provide a port the Troubridge Shoal at the entrance Port Vincent to build Glanville Hall authorities had to start dredging to Gulf St Vincent, made the early at Semaphore. the bars from 1838, and the port navigators very aware of the need From the 1870s the new steamships was dredged continually through for guiding lights, as Baudin found competed with sailing ketches for the rest of the 19th century. The when he spent an awful night the coastal trade in mallee roots, material taken out, called ‘spoil’, trying to avoid running aground salt, gypsum, lime, shell grit, wheat was brought ashore to create in 1802! and wool, but the ketches had the what is now the town area of The first navigation aids were buoys advantage in shallow water. They Port Adelaide, over the original brought out in the Rapid in 1838, could sit on the sandy mud at low tidal flats, starting with an access to mark the approaches to, and tide to load wheat and wool from causeway in 1840. By the 1880s, channel in, the Port River. The first the horse-drawn drays and sail a depth in the port of 6 metres lightship was the Lady Wellington, away as the tide came in. was sufficient to accommodate moored in Light’s Passage to guide Captain Butler flew across the Gulf all ships of the time. The most ships into the river. A light was recent dredging took the channel in 1919, from Adelaide to Minlaton, finally installed on Troubridge Shoal carrying the first airmail and would into Outer Harbor to a depth of in February 1856. 14.2 metres. have had a great view of the Gulf! Port Wakefield was opened in1 850 The early settlers probably knew In the 1930s passengers could to ship copper from the mines at embark at Port Adelaide for the the Gulf better than we do Burra and to import coal. Larger now because it was the fastest ‘GuIf Trip’, a holiday cruise to ships anchored out from the port which lasted for six trade route between the coastal in deeper water, while a fleet of settlements and Port Adelaide days. Regular cargo and passenger smaller sailing ships ferried cargoes services across Gulf St Vincent and – faster than carting supplies by between the ships and the shore. bullock wagon as no roads to Kangaroo Island, ran on the were built yet. SS Warrawee, Karatta, Kopoola, Juno and MV Kooraka.

Left: Salt warehouses (now demolished) at Edithburgh, once a major salt provider to South Australia

12 Australia South of Library State Courtesy Harbison Pat Courtesy Far left: Bullocks at Henley Beach, 1937 Sandra Elms Sandra Ship being loaded at the ABB grain terminal on the Port River Who uses the Gulf now and what for? Commercial shipping But not enough people see the best Shipping news 2008: view of Adelaide – from the middle The Accolade made 262 trips of Gulf St Vincent. from Klein Point to Port Adelaide Fishing bringing just under 2 million tonnes The catch of fish in recent years of limestone to make cement. from the Gulf, Investigator Straight There were 848 other commercial and Kangaroo Island has totalled vessels using Port Adelaide to about 1,500 tonnes, and is made up Tony Kearney Kearney Tony deliver 2.9 million tonnes of other of about 1,000 tonnes commercial, Fishing vessel going out to sea imports or carry out 2.1 million and 500 tonnes recreational. tonnes of exports. Average yearly tonnes of fish Port Adelaide now receives the Commercial Recreational petroleum imports that used to come Squid 00 c.150 to Port Stanvac, and that comprises Garfish 00 c.60 2.2 million tonnes of its imports. King George The only other commercial port whiting 90 c.150 in the Gulf is Port Giles (near Snapper 5 c.40

Edithburgh), where 15 ship visits Crabs c.250 >100 Kearney Tony Aerial view of industry on the Port River loaded 362,000 tonnes of grain. Prawns c.200 Recently the channel into Port While recreational catches Adelaide was dredged to 14.2 aggregate to about half the metres to accommodate the largest commercial take, recreational Post-Panamax size container vessels. fishing generates greater economic Unlike dredging of the preceding activity overall because the product 150 years, the spoil – 3 million cubic actually is ‘fishing’ not just ‘fish’. metres – was dumped into the Gulf This is proven every time someone rather than being returned to land. drives past a supermarket, (where NRMB AMLR / Doyle Bill they could buy packaged fish Wastewater at the Bolivar outfall Recreational boating ready to cook) on their way to try How many small boats are out on their luck and skill to catch fish for the Gulf on a sunny weekend? themselves. More than 50,000 recreational boats are registered in South Australia, and about 70 per cent of these would use Gulf St Vincent. Boats without motors are not Pat Harbison Pat included in this number. Grain and are shipped from Ardrossan, on the western side of the Gulf 13 SA Tourism Tourism SA Birds on

There is a substantial interest in Wastewater disposal the ‘non-consuming’ activities – About 180,000 megalitres of observing marine life in the varied stormwater runoff reaches the Gulf habitats in the Gulf. Of recent in a year of average rainfall, close to time, the technology in boats, Adelaide’s annual use of reticulated SCUBA and snorkelling equipment water. and underwater cameras has all This stormwater also transports improved greatly, while prices have Bill Doyle / AML NRMB AML / Doyle Bill more than 6,000 tonnes of from The mangrove walk at St Kilda dropped steadily. You can now buy the land into the Gulf each year. a handy still camera, which you could take down 5 to 10 metres, Our four sewage treatment plants for a couple of hundred dollars. also dispose of a total of about 80,000 megalitres of treated At snorkelling depths, you can effluent to the Gulf, containing, see the remarkable pipefishes and on average, 830 tonnes of nitrogen. seahorses which have developed If this total runoff were treated and in our seagrasses and kelp beds; recycled, Adelaide would have an David Muirhead / MLSSA MLSSA / Muirhead David culminating in the famous Leafy almost independent water supply. Western Talma Sea Dragon.

Water for desalination Education With dwindling supply from the The varied but accessible habitats River Murray, major political parties of the Gulf allow students from plan a desalination plant at Port primary school to post-doctoral level Stanvac to supply freshwater to to carry out useful marine research. metropolitan Adelaide. This means

Tony Kearney Kearney Tony a saline discharge back to the Salt production Gulf, which will also carry process Penrice Soda uses salt and limestone to produce sodium carbonate, discharging Water from Gulf St Vincent is used chemicals. ammonium chloride to the Gulf via the to produce an average of 285,000 Port River But the Gulf is also a marine tonnes of salt per year for industrial habitat, the source of food and use from 4,000 hectares of ponds shelter, for all marine life beneath at Dry Creek, on the eastern side of the surface. What will be the long the Gulf, and up to 170,000 tonnes term effects of our use of the Gulf? of food and industrial grade salt from 1,000 hectares of ponds at Price on the western side. Sandra Elms Elms Sandra

14 Torrens Island Power Station Bill Doyle / AML NRMB AML / Doyle Bill The beautiful long stretch of sandy beach at Silver Sands...... What is of greatest value to users of the Gulf? • Sandy beaches? If you are interested in these • Clean water? methods, you could become • Dunes? involved in the actual assessments. • Tidal flats and wading birds? The website will tell you how. • Reef systems? ‘Cultural’ values can reside in • Seagrass meadows? unusual geological formations. • Tidal creeks and mangrove As you walk from the Port Vincent forests? cemetery towards the marina, you will pass several large • Public access to the shoreline? , which are quite unlike any • Jetties? of the surrounding rock. Identical • Shipping lanes? kinds of granite can be found at • The fishing resources? Victor Harbor. The boulders at • The view? Port Vincent almost certainly were • Cultural and heritage values? carried there by glaciers, during the Permian period. They are

Scenery – – is one NRMB AML / Doyle Bill known as ‘erratics’. They remind of the great values of our Gulf Pelican sculpture by Indiana James at the us that about 280 million years Torrens River outlet to humans. That value can be ago, Gondwanaland – the great assessed, and several people in southern continent that included South Australia have been world South America, South Africa pioneers in refining the methods. and Australia – was pretty much Such assessments are increasingly covered by glaciers. important in resolving issues over development that might involve All around the world, erratics reshaping part of the coast, have so sparked the imagination or adding prominent structures, of humans that many have been revered as sacred. Most are now Harbison Pat such as wind power generators, Granite boulders on the beach at Pt Vincent to an area. You can read much contained in dedicated reserves were carried from the Victor Harbor area more about landscape ‘value’ or national parks. At Port Vincent by glaciers more than 200 million years ago and how it is measured, at we can see them much as they www.scenicsolutions.com.au/ were left by glaciers those millions of years ago’ Detail from A field guide to the Geology of , second edition, Field Geology Club of South Australia Inc. Bill Doyle / AML NRMB AML / Doyle Bill Sand replenishment, West Lakes Shore 15 Alison Harvey Harvey Alison Alison Harvey, Leafy Sea Dragon, 2007, watercolour on paper Fishing on the old railway bridge at Port Wakefield Can these values be protected? If we agree on how we want to But seawater along Adelaide’s use the Gulf, we can define the coast does not always meet these water quality we need to protect criteria. The most basic requirement these uses. is that you should be able to see There are National Water Quality the bottom – your feet, if you are Guidelines to protect most wading – in a depth of 1.2 metres. environmental values. The most If you can’t, the water does not strict criteria apply to: meet safety criteria for swimming. This happens now after almost • Protection of aquatic every rainfall, and through dry ecosystems – protecting the summer when bacterial blooms are habitat for fish and all other flushed out of the . marine life in the Gulf. And because of the north-south • Primary contact recreation tidal movements and the afternoon David Muirhead / MLSSA MLSSA / Muirhead David – such as swimming, diving and sea breezes, the murky water is wading where there is direct held close to shore where children body contact with the water. swim and does not disperse. • Aquaculture – high standards Recommendation 1 of the recently of water quality are necessary to completed Adelaide Coastal Waters provide oysters, mussels and fish Study (CSIRO 2007) states that: fit for us to eat. ‘As a matter of priority, steps If the Gulf meets water quality must be taken to reduce guidelines for these three uses, the the volumes of wastewater, water should meet our expectations stormwater and industrial for all other uses. inputs into Adelaide’s coastal environment.’ David Muirhead / MLSSA MLSSA / Muirhead David Southern Rock Lobster David Muirhead / MLSSA MLSSA / Muirhead David Tourism SA NRMB AML / Doyle Bill 16 West Australian Salmon Clear water on the southern coast Strolling the beach at Carrickalinga Bill Doyle / AML NRMB AML / Doyle Bill Highrise development of the Glenelg foreshore Does Gulf St Vincent have a dollar value? Unquestionably, it does. We have Professional cost-benefit analysis avoided putting dollar values tries to list all the assessable costs, on specific items in this booklet, and the likely benefits, brought because they go out of date fairly to dollar values so they can be quickly. Just think what the average compared fairly. If the benefits are price was for a house in Adelaide appreciably greater than the costs, 15 years ago. We can say what governments are more inclined to houses were worth at a particular consider the project.

time, because they are regularly NRMB AML / Doyle Bill A common method to assess Dunes and housing at the Torrens outet bought and sold. value of things like beaches and How do we value things which are clean water is called ‘contingent not bought and sold, or for which valuation’. Essentially, it tries to we do not otherwise charge? In estimate how much money people Australia, we do not have private would be prepared to pay to use, beaches, where people have to say, a beach; or how much they pay just to walk through. Does this would want in compensation if mean those beaches are not worth they no longer had the beach, or anything? Of course not. There is the view, or the water to swim in. Bill Doyle / AML NRMB AML / Doyle Bill an interesting area in economics There have been many ingenious Fishing from the jetty at Second Valley devoted to trying to assess refinements of the methods, values for things like clean water, including some experiments in attractive beaches, being able to go which people have been offered fishing with a reasonable chance of actual cash payments not to go catching a fish, or just looking out hunting or fishing, on the scenery. You can see a practical outcome When governments consider of this kind of research in the proposals for new facilities, television show ‘Deal or No Deal’,

buildings or other developments, where contestants are offered NRMB AML / Doyle Bill they try to assess them by ‘cost- compensation for a briefcase that Marina and apartments, Glenelg benefit’ analysis. Of course, the may contain a greater amount person seeking approval for a of money, or less, but they do development lists its supposed not know how much. That public benefits. Often they can show is based on work of Daniel see nothing but benefits from Kahneman and Amos Tversky, both what they propose, so it is left to psychologists, who were awarded members of the public to register the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in their interest in what may be lost Economics for their research. because of that development. Port Julia on the western side of the Gulf Harbison Pat 17 Some major threats to the health of the Gulf The seagrass, reef and intertidal With little local research before the communities along Adelaide’s desalination plant is set up at coastline were established evolved? Port Stanvac, we now commence in clear waters which received very a major experiment on the impact little runoff from the Iand. The River of such brines in the Gulf. However, Torrens deposited its freshwater and with so much money committed to silt loads in the reed beds of the the plant, will it continue operation Cowandilla plains, seldom reaching regardless of the outcome of that the sea. Now we have concrete ‘experiment’? John Caldicott John ‘fast track’ drains which carry these The Torrens Lake in the city adds The River Torrens in full flood, turbid stormwater flowing out to sea waters directly to the sea, causing a particular pollutant following the a plume of brown silty, turbid water now predictable summer blooms to extend for several kilometres of cyanobacteria, sometimes called along the city beaches in winter. blue green algae. They are bacteria Other threats to water quality in that require sunlight to grow, and the Gulf come from the wastewater different species can produce toxins treatment plants. Apart from the that affect various organs. Flushing boost that the nutrients give to the lake simply moves the problem growth of algae on seagrasses, to the beaches around Henley, Andrew Winkler Andrew they promote some marine pests, where the bacteria can irritate the Stormwater flows straight out to sea from such as the invasive alga Caulerpa, skin of bathers. the River Torrens outlet after heavy rains and boost growth of cabbage Dredging is carried out when weed (Ulva) which harms mangrove developing marinas – increasingly roots. These discharges also carry seen as a way of ‘creating’ more heavy metals and other pollutants. waterfront land, which is expected Industrial discharges include the high to sell at a premium price, and in nitrogen load from Penrice Soda, many cases prevents public access hot water from power stations to the waterfront. and brine from the salt-fields. Tony Kearney Kearney Tony Penrice Soda outfall into the Port River JE Tanner JETanner JETanner

Benthic community composition in Gulf St Vincent in the Benthic community composition in Gulf St Vincent in 2000/2001 1960s as determined by diver spot surveys. The survey sites as determined from remote video surveys.The outlines of the 18 for 2000/2001 are marked for comparison. habitats present in the 1960s are included for comparison. What our political leaders say they will do Other threats, from shipping, We asked the Government and the Opposition for statements include spills of oil or other on actions they proposed to take to reduce these problems. bulk cargos. South Australia has developed a good response The Government said The Leader of the Opposition capability for such spills, and The South Australian Government gave us a longer statement, international design rules are has taken important steps to reminding us that: In 2001 intended to reduce the risk of spills. protect this precious environment. the State Liberal Government It has legislated to establish 19 commissioned a study into the Ships carry potential pest organisms marine parks across South Australia, impact of discharges into the in their ballast water and as fouling and three of these are proposed for Gulf of St Vincent. growth on the hull. Gulf St Vincent. The five-year study called the The deeper waters of the Gulf show A dolphin sanctuary has also been Adelaide Coastal Waters Study apparent reduction in sessile (fixed) established in Port Adelaide River, revealed many alarming problems. organisms over the last 40 years. Barker inlet and the adjoining He summarised what we have This is considered to be due to the section of Gulf St Vincent to written about the seagrass problem trawl nets towed by the prawning maintain the dolphins’ habitat and above, and added: fleet (Tanner2 003, 2005). food sources, and protect them In a normal year Adelaide lets 160 Fishing has depleted the living from harassment gigalitres of stormwater flow out resources of the Gulf, although, A Water Quality Improvement Plan into the Gulf of St Vincent yet we thanks to some far-sighted for the Port Waterways, and the pump approximately 80 gigalitres management in the 1970s by Mr Water Proofing Adelaide strategy of water from the River Murray. A M ‘Mick’ Olsen, the commercial are also being implemented to fisheries work within a framework A Liberal Government has ensure that water released into the that allows it a better prospect committed $400 million to harvest Gulf is not harmful. of sustainability, with profit, than and reuse stormwater, reducing most fisheries in the rest of the The Government has supported a our reliance on the River Murray world. Along with the actual take major scientific study to assess the and helping to protect the Gulf of fish, there has been depletion of health of the Gulf, and as a result, of St Vincent. organisms along the shore for use has invested in much greater re-use It will take considerable time as bait. of both waste and storm water. to restore the Gulf to its former A pipeline is being built to carry glory but reducing the inflows of treated water from Glenelg to the stormwater is a start. Adelaide Parklands, where it will be used to sustain our parks and The Adelaide Coastal Waters gardens, and the reuse of treated Study is an important wakeup call wastewater from Bolivar and to focus the need to protect our Christies Beach has been increased. coastal and ocean environments. Bill Doyle / AML NRMB NRMB AML / Doyle Bill NRMB AML / Doyle Bill An algal mat draped over Samphires in The Washpool, a remnant between Silver Sands and Sellicks Beach saltmarsh, Cheetham Saltfields 19 What can you do? We need to monitor what is The disc is quite simple – therefore nutrients. He waded into a river happening with nutrients and robust and reliable. Most are now at the same spot, same time, each turbidity that cause the long-term 200mm in diameter, but they can year, wearing white sneakers, and damage. be of other sizes. measured on his chest how deep he Keen amateur scientists can make The line is marked – usually at every could go and still see his sneakers. their own regular observations to metre. You lower the disc into the Over time, many other people check on the health of our Gulf. water until you can no longer see started to do the same at other parts of the Chesapeake drainage, For schools, the Natural Resource it from the surface. Jiggle it up and down to fix your ‘Secchi depth’, publicising their observations. Management Board sponsors This put political leverage on the Waterwatch. then measure the length of the line, in whole metres and the last government to get serious about www.waterwatchadelaide.net. reducing nutrient flows, and the au/ fraction – to the nearest tenth of a metre is sufficient. sediment load from badly managed That site will lead you to land clearing and dredging. information for teachers, classes The real value of Secchi readings is improving, and individuals, to monitor the comes with regular measurements in part because of Bernie Fowler. condition of the freshwaters that to build up seasonal a picture of Again, you can find out much more flow into the Gulf, using the what the background clarity should about him by ‘googling’ his name. ‘Snapshots’ water testing kit. be, how often it is reduced, and for what reason. If you can keep In the marine waters, we have Other things to do a continuing problem with weekly records, after a year or two you should have a useful baseline About 6,000 people are members turbidity, but do not have regular of ‘Friends’ groups or affiliates observations on turbidity in – and, as it happens, one that government agencies still lack. in South Australia. Some help the already affected waters off maintain particular parks or Adelaide, nor from outlying areas, For water to be assessed safe reserves, some attend to more where seagrass is still abundant. for people to swim in, you should specific interests such as butterfly There is an internationally be able to see the bottom, conservation. You can find out recognised, scientific technique, or your Secchi disc, at a depth about those groups, or how to for monitoring turbidity. It uses of 1.2 metres, so you could put form a new one that could attend what is called a Secchi disc. It was a special mark at that depth. to your special interests, through developed in 1856, by the then Another way to test safety for www.communitywebs.org/ Papal astronomer, Father Angelo swimming is to use what we call FriendsofParks/ Secchi, who had also met the a Secchi sock. The Secchi sock The different groups receive oceanographers of that time. You follows the example of an American guidance and support from the can find out more of his interesting politician, Bernie Fowler. Fowler Volunteer Support Unit in the life on the web – just google lived near Chesapeake Bay – a Department for Environment and ‘Secchi disc’. large inlet, which was also harmed Heritage. by inflows of sediment and excess

The Friends of Gulf St Vincent hope that you and your friends will learn more about our very precious Gulf, so that you can recognise the threats to its health and more effectively work to protect its future.

A Secchi disc, something you can make Secchi socks, another way of measuring 20 to monitor water turbity water turbity Finding more information Books and other publications about Gulf St Vincent We have mentioned the 500-page Natural History of Gulf St Vincent which is published by the Royal Society of South Australia. Each chapter has appropriate references on the subject it covers. There are too many to list here. The Royal Society still offers copies of the earlier Natural History of the Adelaide Region, and the 2002 Natural History of Kangaroo Island. Details at www.adelaide.edu.au/rssa/pub/ That site will also give you access to reprints of the Society’s journal, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, in conjunction with the South Australian Museum. The Transactions contain significant papers on South Australian botany, zoology, geology, palaeontology, anthropology and physics, published from 1880 to the present time. The index at the website can take you to things like the early papers on radiation by Prof. Bragg, who, with his son, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915. The Field Geology Club of South Australia has published three excellent field guides to the geology of Yorke Peninsula, the and Hallett Cove. www.fieldgeologyclubsa.org.au/ The South Australian Museum has a Discovery Centre where specimens can be taken for identification. There is a good selection of resources for the budding natural history enthusiast. www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/ page/default.asp?site=1&page=Home That site enables you to access virtually the entire Museum ‘online’. Go lose yourself in what is on offer. And don’t forget the South Australian Maritime Museum at Port Adelaide. www.history.sa.gov.au/maritime/maritime.htm

Other books about Gulf St Vincent We will not try to list every book that might mention the Gulf in some way, but we recommend Southern Passages by Ronald Parsons, (published 1986 by Wakefield Press) particularly for its account of shipping in the Gulf. Remember – what we now know as Port Adelaide was created by dredging. Parsons finishes with a cautionary story about the early unsuccessful attempts to create a harbour at Glenelg. Conquest to Conservation: a history of Human Impact on the SA Environment, by Derek Whitelock, Wakefield Press,1 985. William Light’s Brief Journal and Australian Diaries, David Elder, Wakefield Press, 1984. Ill starred Captains – Flinders and Baudin, Anthony Brown, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2004. A Field Guide to the Marine Invertebrates of South Australia, Karen Gowlett-Holmes, published by Notomares, 2008. This is comprehensive, and reasonably priced for such a work. It is printed on water-resistant material, so is truly a field guide. Mangroves in South Australia, Karen Edyvane, SARDI, 1995. Birds of a Salt-Field, by Roy P Cooper, published by ICI Australia Ltd, 1980. It describes the birds using the salt-field habitat between Dry Creek and St Kilda, on the eastern side of the Gulf. And Companion to Cooper’s Birds of a Salt-Field, by CE Rix, (ICI 1980). Penrice Soda and the salt-fields have had a significant impact on the local marine waters. In 2002, WG Webster published Soda by the Ton. Seaview Press no longer lists this as a current publication, but it seems to be available at libraries. 21 Getting more involved while you learn The peak conservation body involved with Gulf St Vincent is the Conservation Council of SA Inc, www.ccsa.asn.au/ Several bodies with more specific focus operate under the CCSA umbrella. Reefwatch monitors the condition of reefs, including intertidal areas which are home to invertebrates like anemones, sponges, molluscs and crabs. Reefwatch also publishes brochures and maintains web information on the theme of ‘feral or in peril’ – aids to help identify serious potential pests (the feral), or species which are endangered (in peril), www.reefwatch.asn.au/ The Marine Life Society of SA started in 1976, to promote ‘understanding, enjoying and caring for our oceans’. Many members are keen photographers, while others grapple with the challenge of setting up and maintaining marine aquaria. It is an affiliated organisation withFriends of Gulf St Vincent, and publishes a monthly newsletter which is loaded with information. It also publishes a calendar with spectacular photographs of marine life each year. www.mlssa.asn.au/ The overarching body for recreational fishing is theSouth Australian Recreational Fishing Advisory Council Inc. Their slogan is ‘We fish for the future’, and they maintain a website at sarfac.com/public/ The equivalent body for commercial fishers isWildcatch Fisheries SA, Fishing Industry House, Dockside, North Parade, PO Box 2099, Port Adelaide SA 5015. The peak body for recreational boating is the Boating Industry Association, which runs the boat show each year in Adelaide, but is also involved in environmental issues arising from boating, such as handling of sewage and wastewaters and management of maintenance facilities and anti-foulants. Their website includes a section on environmental responsibility, and is at www.boatingsa.com.au/index.asp Working with fishing and boating groups isKeep South Australia Beautiful – KESAB for short. They have a ‘clean marine’ program which targets marine litter. See www.kesab.asn.au/index.php?page=clean- marine. KESAB tries to maintain awareness of the problem of trash like cigarette butts. You will find a link to the other KESAB programs on the ‘Clean Marine’ webpage. If you click on their ‘NRM Education’ link, you will find a supply of posters and other project material, and details of their testing kit for freshwaters. With that kit, you could monitor the condition of freshwaters in your area that flow into the Gulf, including its loads of nitrate and phosphate.

22 Government organisations Always remember that Government activities must be authorised by an Act What else you can do of Parliament. Many Acts, and regulations made under those Acts, are not South Australia has response plans always applied to the letter. in place for animal strandings, oil You can find the Acts and Regulations which apply to the Gulf St Vincent at spills, mass fish kills, algal blooms www.austlii.edu.au/ and the appearance of introduced If you look for South Australian Acts beginning with ‘E’, you will find pests. - Environment Protection Act 1993 We have thousands of pairs of eyes - Environment, Resources and Development Court Act 1993 watching over the Gulf and able to - Environment Protection (Sea Dumping) Act 1984 report problems immediately. If you see something that is of concern, You may find that Sea Dumping Act interesting. It ‘received assent’2 5 take a photo with your mobile years ago to control an important aspect of dredging in SA waters, but has phone to confirm what you are never commenced – that is, it has never been given a start date. Until it is, reporting. dredging is managed under the Environment Protection Act 1993. More information is at www.epa.sa.gov.au/pdfs/guide_dredging.pdf FISHWATCH, run by PIRSA Fisheries, has a 24-hour hotline Many Acts are known by familiar names that may not be their proper for reporting any marine problem name. People speak of the ‘Planning Act’, which is now the Development including illegal activities. They Act 1993. This Act is useful if you want to challenge a planning decision also receive reports about sighting such as building another marina in the Gulf. rare species or happenings and If you want to check legislation on fisheries; under ‘F’ you will find the will ensure that they are recorded. Fisheries Management Act 2007. Phone them on 1800 065 522. Aquaculture is covered separately by the Aquaculture Act 2001. For reports of introduced pests, And if you want to check on how some court decisions in South Australia make yourself familiar with came about, you will find many reports of significant court cases at the common or likely pests. Reef Australasian Legal Information Institute website: Watch produces guides to www.austlii.edu.au/au/sa/ recognise potential pests and rare species. Other specific legislation includes the Harbors and Navigation Act1 993. If you look at Section 15 of that Act, you will find that the Minister for One of the largest strandings of Transport effectively ‘owns’ the seabed. marine mammals known in the world occurred in 1944 around Most of the operations of harbours now are managed by the separate Port Prime. At least 250 false corporation, Flinders Ports, which has a website at www.flindersports. killer whales died. Dead marine com.au/ mammals can provide valuable A good source of information is the range of management plans of the biological information, and the SA Natural Resource Management Boards. Go to the Adelaide and Mount Museum has a major program to Lofty Ranges NRM Board site: www.amlrnrm.sa.gov.au/ follow up on reports. This will link you to their plans, which are backed by useful and The SA Museum is also interested authoritative technical support documents. in other rare and unusual species. The ‘NRM Gateway’ on that site will link you to the two other Natural Sometimes large turtles find their Resource Management Boards (Kangaroo Island, and Northern and way to our waters, and for these, or Yorke) whose boundaries actually meet in the Gulf. The three boards any occurrence of whales, dolphins have a Memorandum of Understanding for co-operation and efficiency in or seals that you think is unusual, managing the Gulf. If you go to the Kangaroo Island NRMB site, you can you can call the Museum direct: learn about their ‘Oceans of Blue’ marine program, and take a marine pest Dr Catherine Kemper or David awareness survey. The Northern and Yorke website has a wide range of Stemmer at the South Australian information on the issues and challenges of the western side of the Gulf. Museum on (08) 8203 7458.

23 Gulf St Vincent: A precious asset Published August 2009 by Friends of Parks Inc / Friends of Gulf St Vincent © 2009 Friends of Parks Inc / Friends of Gulf St Vincent ISBN 978-0-646-52043-8 Permission is granted to reproduce part or all of the publication for non-commercial purposes subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. Copyright for the design of this publication remains with Friends of Parks Inc / Friends of Gulf St Vincent. Researched and written by Pat Harbison, Ian Kirkegaard, John Cugley and Angela Gackle

Acknowledgements We thank the EPA South Australia for permission to use material published in Protecting Gulf St Vincent: A statement on its health and future, DENR 1997. Assistance with supply of images by the following is gratefully acknowledged. Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board, Branch for permission to use of many of the images in this publication and Bill Doyle (photographer) on behalf of AMLR NRMB. The AMLR NRMB’s coastal collection is at www.flickr.com/photos/amlrnrm/sets/72157610149766597/ Philip Hall, Marine Life Society of South Australia Inc (MLSSA), www.mlssa.asn.au/ Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide Museum of Natural History, London, UK National Library of Australia, Canberra State Library of South Australia, Adelaide

Design: Sandra Elms Design Printing: FiveStarPrint

This work received financial support as Project 58740 under ‘Envirofund 08’. ‘Envirofund’ was integrated into the Australian Government’s ‘Caring for our Country’ initiative from July 2008

Cover photograph: View to Blanche Point and Gull Rock, Maslins Beach, southern suburban coastline of Adelaide, South Australia Photograph by Bill Doyle, taken on behalf of the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resource Management Board, Coastal Management Branch 24 Inside cover: Detail of the Maritime Portion of South Australia, from Captain Flinders and from more recent Surveys made by the Surveyor General of the Colonies, by John Arrowsmith, 1844. Courtesy State Library of South Australia

Gulf St Vincent a precious asset