Earthcare News
August 2002
I do what I can, where I
am.
Earthcare Planting
At St Kilda Botanic
Gardens Indigenous Section
With Friends of the
Gardens
Saturday 24th
August 11am-1pm
·
Guided
tour of indigenous section.
·
Tea,
Coffee and Cake for all volunteers.
Meet in gardens near corner of Herbert and
Dickens.
Some tools and gloves provided, please bring your
own weather protection.
All Welcome!
Northern Pacific Seastar removal Dive, 11th
August by Matt Green
Headline
numbers are 843 Northern Pacific SeaStars’s weighing a total of 145 kg removed
– with many shown to have yet to spawn (ie we caught them in time!)
Again
– a big job well done by the folks from Earthcare St Kilda and the divers from
Diving Headquarters.
Many
thanks to the five divers including Jamie Beer who got into the water in a 3mm
wetsuit and who put up with water temp of 9.1 deg C – extremely well done. Also
extra extremely well done Ivan and Ken who were in wet suits in - 10 deg water
for 2hrs!!! And to the ten shore attendants who put up with a bitingly cold
wind.
Stats
for today are:
Distribution
–
0-5cm 22
6-10cm 189
11-15cm 311
16-20cm 206
>21cm 115
For
those looking to compare with our removal last month at Beacon Cove, there are
some very interesting differences; including:
After
removing about a third the number (with about a third the divers), the weight
removed was about 20kg HIGHER.
This
appears to be accounted for by the significantly higher average size from St
Kilda Pier – 5 times as many over 20cm
More on Northern Pacific Seastars by Sur Pennicuik
Late last week, I was walking along Elwood beach. The tide was out quite a bit and there was an unusually large amount of seawood washed up against the break water at Point Ormond. I walk regularly along this stretch of beach and this day I found two Northern Pacific Seastars washed up on the beach - both approximately 19cm in diameter and very orange, with the characteristic mauve tips- I had not seen this before. I also noticed another beachcomber who, amongst a collection of shells, was in possession of an equally large seastar. I stopped and spoke to her about the startfish - she had no idea what it was, but was intending to take it home and dry it out, so I was relieved it was not going to go back into the water.
Unfortunately, I also have to report that in addition to the seastars and the seaweed, a HUGE amount of rubbish was also washed up on the beach, particulalry in front of the life saving club - heaps of bottles, plastic bags and all manner of household waste! Usually while I'm on my return journey, I pick up plastic bags and other plastic articles that are the most harmful for the aquatic animals, but there was so much rubbish this particular day that I felt defeated - and I had the seastars to carry home. On the weekend, I noticed that the beachhad been cleaned, but it is depressing that despite years of campaigning, litter remains a huge problem.
On the third Saturday of each month, the EcoCentre is running a series of free design
and installation workshops associated with the EcoHouse stormwater
and wastewater treatment systems. The DNRE Coasts and Clean Seas
program supports this exciting project.
This is your opportunity to learn about and contribute to leading edge
water conservation techniques. The workshops are to be run in tandem with the
EcoCentre’s ‘Butterfly Project’, providing an insight into broader biodiversity
issues. Fact sheets and wholesome tucker will be provided. RSVP to Neil Blake
on 9209 6491for catering purposes.
Date & time
|
Activity |
Presenter |
|
Saturday July 20 2pm-5pm |
Wastewater recycling
system design: principles and site considerations. Introduction to wetland
plant propagation and
water-efficient garden design. |
Peter Barker (EcoHouse
Coordinator) Neil Blake (EcoCentre Coordinator) |
|
Saturday August 17 2pm-5pm |
Plant propagation for
reedbed and subsurface irrigation of heritage fruit trees |
Jono Long (Permaculture
Melbourne) Vanessa Devereux (St Kilda
Indigenous Nursery Coop) |
|
Saturday September 21 2pm-5pm |
Roof water collection
system design workshop and installation working bee. |
‘Smartflo’ guttering
representative. Neil Blake (EcoCentre
Coordinator) |
|
Saturday October 19 2pm-5pm |
Wet compost system
installation workshop and working bee. Planting &
construction of wetland |
Buzz Burrows (Environment Equipment) |
|
Saturday November 16 2pm-5pm |
Storm water collection
& use system: drains to holding ponds design and construction working bee
|
Andrew Allan (Greenway
Building Design) Neil Blake (EcoCentre
Coordinator) |
Whats On August / September
18th August Friends of Port Melbourne’s Foreshore
working Bee at Perce White Reserve
9.30-12noon Details Janet 9645 2269
24th August
Saturday 11am-1pm Working Bee at St Kilda Botanic Gardens
25th August Corroboree Tree Project Propagating day at
SKINC 525 Williamstown Rd, Port Melbourne 10 am to 2 pm Melway map 2J
E2Bring lunch to share.
29th August Thursday 7.30pm Earthcare Meeting Cora
Graves Centre Featuring Peter Baird discussing the Elwood Canal Fish Survey he
instigated
1st Sept Penguin Research, Bookings/Info
Angela 9527 8334 (we ask people to let us know if they want to attend so we can
keep groups to a managable size)
8th Sept Friends of Sandy Rail, Riddell Pde
Elsternwick 10am -12pm Rob 9537 2599
14th Sept Friends of Port Melbourne’s Foreshore
working Bee at Perc White Reserve
Saturday 9.30-12noon Melways 56 F3 Details Janet 9645 2269
18th Sept Friends of Westgate Park planting plus
Gerry Martinelli will bring frogs. 12noon onwards. Mel. 56 F1
21st Sept EcoCentre's
Ecowater Education Workshop, featuring Roof water collection system design
workshop and installation working bee. 2-5pm at EcoCentre.
26th Sept Earthcare
meeting celebrating the Launch of the Flora Book, at The Cora Graves Centre,
Blessington St Opposite the EcoCentre.
29th Sept
Canterbury Road planting
Sunday 11am-3pm
Earthcare St Kilda
Ph 0500 832 784 PO Box 287 Elwood
Email zoemh@bigpond.com
or aliart@bigpond.com
7.30 pm Cora
Graves Centre
Blessington
Street, St Kilda at the intersection of Herbert
Featuring
Earthcare
St Kilda commissioned a report from the Department of Natural Resources and
Environment on the state of the native fish populations in Elwood Canal. The fish surveys were carried out over the
summer of 2001/2002. Earthcare has just
received the report.
The
reports findings were as follows: Six
species of native fish were found in the canal. This compares with thirteen species which are expected to occur
in the catchment under natural conditions. Numerous factors impacting on
environmental condition and more specifically aquatic fauna assemblages were
identified within the study area. These
include: barriers to fish migration, introduction of exotic species, stream
channelisation, clearing of riparian (streamside) vegetation, and altered flow
regimes. The researchers recommended
that these issues be considered as priorities for any future plans to
rehabilitate Elster creek and Elwood canal for native freshwater fish
species.
The
release of this report coincides with the development of The Elwood Canal management plan. “The findings in this report will be invaluable to development of
this plan”, says Peter Baird, Earthcare’s project manager.
The
upper reaches of the Elwood Canal within the City of Port Phillip, since the
fish surveys were done, have been scoured of all vegetation and fish breeding
habitat. All that now remains within
the creek is litter and mud. The money
that would be saved if this practice were altered, could be spent on litter
removal and stream side rehabilitation.
This will not only benefit the native fish species, it will provide a
much more beautiful place for rest and recreation.
Earthcare
is holding a public meeting on Thursday 29th August, 730pm at the
Cora Graves Centre, Blessington St. St. Kilda.
At this meeting the findings of the report will be presented by a local
environmentalist, Peter Baird. He will
also present his plans for future research by the local schools and community.
The
full report is viewable from www.vicnet.net.au/~earthcare
Further
details Zoe 0402 164 482
7.30 pm Cora
Graves Centre
at the intersection of Herbert and Blessington Streets St Kilda