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MARINE Life August September 2015 ISSUE 38 1 FFeeaattuurreess aanndd CCrreeaattuurreess Our Goal To educate, inform, have fun and share our GBR Issue 3 enjoyment of the marine world with likeminded Swimming with Whales 3 people. Basking Sharks 4 How Not to Swim with Whales 4 The Crew Seal populations on the mend 5 Michael Jacques, Editor Supertrawler Again! 6 NT Advisor – Grant Treloar SA Advisor – Peter Day Kelp struggling with climate change 7 WA Advisor – Mike Lee Shoalhaven artificial reef 8 Disclaimer: The views expressed in this publication are not necessarily the views of the editorial staff or associates of this Uncertainty at Ningaloo about future development 9 publication. We make no promise that any of this will make Royal Penguins 10 sense. Cretaceous Survivors 11 Cover photo, Australian Gannet at Pope’s Eye, Port Phillip Bay, Victoria by Andrew Newton Ancient birds and Musk Ducks ` 12 Nautilus shells 13 Twelve Apostles Marine Park 14 Sapphire Coast Marine Discovery Centre 18 Russell & Co ships – General Picton wreck 19 Russell & Co ships – Cambus Wallace wreck and Stradbroke 22 Sands shifting on the Gold Coast 23 Russell & Co ships – Falls of Halladale wreck 26 \ Hobart’s sunken pontoon bridge 27 We are now part of the wonderful world of Facebook! Check us out, stalk our updates, and ‘like’ ourpage to fuel our insatiable New black coral found 28 egos. Mysteries of Darwin Harbour 29 Contact us: [email protected] 2 We were all wrong, the GBR is doing fine? Researchers Study Effects of Swimming with Whales Source ABC, Photo - Sundive The UN World Heritage Committee decided against placing the reef on the 'in danger' list. Tours that allow people to swim with whales are being offered in Queensland for a second year, despite guidelines not yet being Despite the above headline, this declaration is NOT an “all-clear” for the developed. reef, but breathing space for the Government to meet the commitments it made during intense lobbying. UN expert advisors have made it clear that Australia is expected to start delivering results, and they want to Sunshine Coast see progress by the end of next year. dive operation, Many people have been calling on the Federal Government has to do Sunreef, more to tackle climate change, which is the biggest long term threat to launched the the reef. program last year off the According to scientist Terry Hughes”… it's a bit like turning around the coast of Titanic, it's going to be an enormous effort on many fronts”. Mooloolaba, and The Minister, Greg Hunt, 3,000 people was as usual very signed up. Two positive and up beat Hervey Bay self, “I did specifically whale watching identify climate change operations have and water quality as two also run trials. of the greatest Current charter challenges facing the operators incorporate rules relating to whale watching, including no-go Reef. We'll be zones for boats around whales and dolphins. Their boat first trails a pod announcing by the 20th for about 20 minutes until it gets used to the noise of the engine. They Go get 'em Greg, and yes, the fish in GBR marine of July our target for the then come up alongside it for a further 10 minutes, and then move post-2020 Paris about 100 metres in front of it before people enter the water. Tour reserves really are that big (for now anyway) conference. We are promotor Sundive said, "We want this to be a 100 per cent organic absolutely going to meet experience, so we're not going out there to interrupt the whales or and beat our 2020 target and we will set a credible and ambitious post- disturb their path”. So far, 60 per cent of swimmers on the tour had 2020 target. We're in a very good place, and the Prime Minister has seen a whale underwater. Two seats on each trip were reserved for been an incredible support, both with the Reef but also in this post-2020 University of the Sunshine Coast researchers so they could help develop target-setting process”. new policies. The researchers will also look at existing operations, such I’m excited too, now that it sounds like the entire Liberal Party right as humpback whale swims in Tonga, minke whale swims in Cairns and wing are as one voice in their commitment to managing climate change. whale shark swims in Western Australia. See, fantastic and unbelievable things truly are possible. With my mate Greg on the case, I’m no longer worried. 3 Basking Shark to be studied Outrage- Sharks give photo opportunities to idiots Recently, fishermen in western Victoria accidentally caught a I won’t give you the link as it will only encourage the culprits, basking shark. but two idiots have been filmed surfing on the back of a whale shark (probably in the USA). The 600 kilogram head of the poorly From late June there has been a torrent of headlines, “Outrage”, understood basking “Shock”, “Outrage”, “Outrage”, and my favourite headline “Jerks”. At shark has now been first I thought it was a hoax, but whale sharks are known to follow boats brought to Melbourne and approach people, giving these dullards the chance to slide back on a Museum. It's a big rope and mount the whale shark. The whale shark simply dived (not male, although it's 6.3 trapping and drowning the humans involved as first hoped), but came metres long, they can back to the boat again. This comes after pictures last November of a grow to 12 metres man standing on a whale carcass in the middle of a shark feeding long — it's the frenzy, which also caused ‘outrage’. I don’t know why, the whale was second-largest living beyond caring, the sharks had the prospect of a chomping on a fresher fish. The full shark morsel, and that would also have been a boon to humanity too. What weighed about 2.6 these incidents say is, tonnes. The last time There are a lot of stupid humans around there was a recorded capture of this species was in the 1930s, by a skipper at Lakes Entrance in eastern Victoria. Another was caught off People will do almost any stupid thing to get on Youtube Portland in 1883. The plankton-eating sharks were named because they We can get too fraught about an incident that’s unlikely to often spend time feeding near the surface, looking like they are basking become a regular thing, simply because it involves an iconic in the sun. animal, These fish live well off the coastline. Because of their size, they're not Whale sharks may be incredibly placid and at ease near humans often collected. They have had requests from all over the world for bits and pieces of it for research. The museum will look at whether the Here is a shot population off of Southern Australia was confined to Southern Australia that got nowhere or it's continuous right with the populations that occur in the cold waters near as much in the northern hemisphere as well. It'll also tell us a lot more about the attention, but it health of the populations. The fins of basking sharks are considered to illustrates what a be the most valuable of the sharks but that may well be an wildlife encounter unsustainable fishery. should be, not a forced conquest A museum spokeperson said, "I think that they're solitary, but honestly, of nature, but an we don't know enough about them," she said. "One shark's probably not exhilarating and going to tell us everything about what's going on down there, but the mutually more information we have from specimens, the bigger picture we can harmless journey build up about their life history and what they're doing. of discovery 4 Seals making a comeback All but one of the fur seal breeding colonies occurred on islands between the Australian mainland and By the 1820s, Australian and New Zealand fur seals were almost Tasmania, which has an completely wiped out by hunters. average depth of 60 metres and Today the two species are making a comeback at Cape Bridgewater, the is considered to be a region of only spot on the Australian mainland where the species' breeding low food availability for marine colonies can be found. predators. Researchers tracked the foraging patterns of 36 Australian and New Zealand Australian fur seals from fur seal numbers are now Kanowna Island in Bass Strait, estimated to be up to half of using GPS loggers and dive their population size prior to recorders. This revealed that some seals congregated around human- the sealing industry. “At that made structures which act as artificial reefs attracting fish. Associate site there was only one pup Professor Arnould of Deakin University said "We found that 72 per cent in 1995. Now we're seeing of the 26 seals we tracked spent time around the man-made structures, 100 of each species there," with pipelines and cable routes being the most frequented. "More than a Dr McIntosh said. While third of animals foraged near more than one type of structure." pleasing the increases are slow, Fur seal populations "Therefore, structures like oil and gas rigs and pipelines that occur on are increasing at just 2 per the relatively featureless sea floor could provide a valuable prey habitat cent a year. and promote foraging success for the species," he said. Associate Professor Arnould said man-made changes to natural habitats could Australian and New Zealand seal colonies have much in common but often have negative effects on animals, but some species "can adapt to, have distinct traits.