Ban Fishing on Crowded Urban Beaches - Marine Reserves

Each year there are fewer Crested Terns visiting Manly Beach.

More and more fishermen line up along the urban beach. Booze-free zone. Stinking garbage, dead fish, dangerous hooks and plastic junk are left behind.
A Crested Tern mother had a chick which she hid amongst the Seagulls. Returning from her feeding trip, she was in distress, trying unsuccessfully to regurgitate - a fishing hook and nylon string. Various phone calls were made to volunteer organisations with long waiting loops. Had it been a precious dog, there would have been a swift service. It is unknown if the dependent chick or the mother survived. But then it's all about beach as a tidy and profitable playground for humans. Wildlife, especially shorebirds, are not granted a habitat.

More birds killed by fishing hooks and fishing lines at Manly Beach

Ban fishing on urban beaches. Make Manly beach and the Northern beaches a marine park.

Manly Beach Drift "wood" - March

A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:

Thick layers of Bluebottles/ Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis) along the beach and many in the surf with very long tentacles. There was a very large unusual medusa, an approximately 18 cm transluscent bell with short mauve tentacles, arranged in pairs. An impressive creature. (Image)

People fishing, wagging dead fish heads in the water seem to want to attract sharks to the beach which is full of people. Crested Terns still mingling with Gulls. Some real driftwood, large logs of native trees.

An increasing diversity of jelly fish, bluebottles, round 'buttons' and transluscent blobs. Many dead fish, a headless Weedy Seadragon. Nice shells and kelp species along the Manly end. Extreme rugby between the flags. Smoking carers with newly borns on the beach. Towards Nrth Steyne., kelp and thick in bluebottles. Olfactory mystery and building noises. Huge logs of driftwood.

Endless plastic 'party' balloons, full of gas and deflated with fancy looong ribbons, entangling anything in sight, released to share with wildlife and future generations. Family or PR 'fun'. 020309

Serious (commercial?) spearfishing took place at the Queenscliff end of the beach. At the time when life-savers knocked off, the professionally armed diver killed a lot of marine life and dragged it to the beach. Many children were in the water and also gathered around his loot. The very large weapon in a public space seemed most inappropriate. The proximity of an armed hunter in the ocean and on a crowded beach appeared against all beach safety. Apparently it is legal. After the beaching, the heavy and rich 'harvest' was brought to the caves of Queenscliff, where more 'goodies' were bunkered. If it was within the 'bag limit' and what species the heavy bags contained will never be known. 050309
Marine Parks NOW!
Three Crested Terns diving. Ravens cleaning up a dead Seagull. Some dead fish, a couple of transluscent blobs (jelly-fish).
Junkspace: Countless plastic 'throw-away' bottles, chucked after a 'convienent' drink. Along the entire length of the beach. Fishing Junk: Long strong plastic ropes/gear and styropore sinkers. 060309

A wild ocean last night blew thick layers of blue bottles onto the beach - the jelly fish variety and the plastic variety. A few tiny Nudibranches were still alive at the beach. They had a black and bright blue colour. Crested Terns were diving. A coconut with many bi-valves with orange edges. A not unpleasant fish smell.
Fishing people trying their best to entangle beach users and marine life. A lot of nylon string and plastic toys were left behind.

Rain washed all of suburbia clean. All the toxic fertilised lawn transplants, the foamy car-wash, the untreated dog and cat poo, etc (known as "stormwater", pdf) ends up in one of these holding pools. (eutrophication image) Seagulls bathe in it and then it seaps into Manly Beach and the wider blue Pacific. From marine biodiversity to dead zone.

The sand is a colourful composite of shell bits. Soon shells will not be able to build their hard shells and the 'sand' will disappear. An acid ocean, full of carbon dioxide does not allow for hard shells being build. But there is no sign of slowing Manly's use of fossil fuels. A degraded world will be left behind for the many off-spring they are hurling around the place with fossil fuel. 090309

Generous amounts of garden clippings, prickly pear and other weeds. Balloons, balloons and more... Blue Bottles and the blue 'button' jellyfish. Many cuttlefish bone/sepia. At the Queenscliff end, the smelly problem of 'kelp' stuck in engineering wonders, was 'solved' with the aid of a lot of diesel and heavy machinery.

Usually there are many plastic bags on the beach, but this dumped bait packaging seemed unusual. The contents had been pilchards from W.A. Forgotten seems to be the mass mortality of pilchards (Sardinops sagax) during 1995 due to "a novel Herpesvirus". "The deaths occurred along 5000 km of the Australian coastline and 500 km of the New Zealand coastline." It is believed that " the virus was introduced to a naive population. It appears to have a point source and correlates though it is not proven, to an area where a large population of blue fin tuna are kept in pens. They have to be fed on pilchards, which are imported from overseas and dumped into the ocean there." "Bait" has the potential to spread disease, especially with an absence of a 'code of practice'. Australia's 2.89 million "recreational" fishers consume 4000 tonnes of purchased marine fish as bait p.a.

Dumping fishing gear and "bait" at the beach or ocean endangers marine life and has the potential for huge economic damage. 100309

A washed up Yellow-bellied Sea Snake (Pelamis platurus, images ) +30cm long, headless. A beautiful black skin and a very bright yellow underside. Many dead Pufferfish and large Porcupinefish. Crested Terns with hungry offspring. A great variety of kelp and jelly fish. A large coconut full of living bi-vales, 4-edged dark seeds, also alive.

An unusual number of (recession plagued?) anglers with very large buckets. More plastic bait bags blowing in the wind. Freshly cut large fish heads stinking on the beach. Chucked fruit and veg from some boat?. Unusual in today's junkspace, apart from the usual boring 'party balloons' with long strings, was a full condom.

Extreme sport: surf kites seemed to want to raze the heads of walkers and swimmers with their gear at high speed. For joggers a real challenge to dodge the fishinghooks, racing surf kites or slip on a full condom. 110309

Dead birds: 1 young Crested Tern, + 3 Mutton birds. A dead rat - not the native water rat. A few dead fish.

A lot of garbage: A new wave of 'convenient' one-mouth-full portions, "mini" this & that, individually wrapped. Stuff it in, swallow and chuck. So easy.
A real epidemic of plastic balloons with entangle strings, every day. Just spottet a "mum-party" yesterday, each pram had some six balloons tied to it. And then 'party!' they are released - off they go - to entangle the marine offspring.
Fishing junk, floaters with nylon string still attached and plastic bait bags. Strange campaigns to only lobby against plastic bags and have a 'blind spot' for all the other ubiquitous plastic junk. Bottles and bottles... 120309

A thick layer of Soldier beetles (Cantharus Lugubris, images) washed up along the beach. More gardens and parks will have less biological control agents now. Nice shells. Plastic fishing junk, a syringe and a lot of freshly cracked sharp glass.. Another spearfish gun at Queenscliff amongst sun - bathers. 160309

A lot of Crested Terns (pdf) mingling with Seagulls, leaving their offspring with them whilst they go diving. With stunning aerial displays they shoot into the shallow pools and bring fish to their young. Often Seagulls chase them to extract the catch. One adult feeder had a fishing string dangling out of its bill which it was desperately trying to extract to continue feeding. More plastic fishing junk on the beach. It's time to make fishing illegal in dense coastal areas. More large pieces of glass on the beach. 180309

In the morning the row of Norfolk Island Pines is abuzz (audio) with Sulphur Crested Cockatoos. The large white cockatoos overpower even the surf. It is rare to hear the large Black Cockatoos. More Wattlebirds have been busy in the pine rows during the day. Cleaning the garbage bins of spiders. In the late evening the pines come alive with the buzz of thousands of colourful screetching Lorikeets. A large bird of prey flying with heavy wing towards the north.
Council's petrol-fuelled gardening and cleaning cuts through all of nature's sounds and ruins the ambience on the beach and walkway.

On the beach, a Raven investigated a golfball. An 'egg' to crack on the footpath or an intelligent removal of hard missiles from the beach? Maybe a weapon to drop on the dog owners holding three to four dogs each in their reins. The hard golfball ended up high in a pine tree.

Large amorphous 'blobs' of transluscent jelly fish. 250309

Illegal dog paws prints at the North Steyne end of the beach in the very early mornings. The size of a pony. An angler was scaling a large fish alive. The flapping and agony of the tortured creature was severe. A couple of Pelicans flying north/west regularly, seeking a habitat. A large array of nice shells. 260309

Hundreds of dead-ish Porcupinefish from one end to the beach to the other, mostly +/- 10 cm. Many fresh Bluebottles/ Portuguese Man-of-War (Physalia physalis) floating in and stinging people. More transluscent jelly blobs. A dead microbat was washed up. Usually they fly along the foreshore.

Advertising in every direction on the beach. Solid state spam in public space.

The blue sky, dimmed by "Aerosols, tiny particles or liquid droplets belched into the air by the burning of fossil fuels" visibly at the horizon, additionally gets marked by jet trails. "Jet engine exhaust contains carbon dioxide, oxides of sulfur and nitrogen, unburned fuel, soot and metal particles, as well as water vapor." The pulverised ancient matter, showers back on us through what often appears like a blue sky over the Pacific.280309

Manly Beach Drift 'wood' - January

A monthly summary of what has washed onto the shore or beach through the winds, tides, waves or human action. Marine debris, flora and fauna, dead or alive:

Each day washes another type of jelly fish up, today bluebottles, yesterday a mysterious 2 cm 'button' with a dark blue short fringe. The entire beach filled with them. The day before, transluscent blobs. Heating up the ocean, turning it into an acid brew and eradicating the predators of jellyfish (Sunfish, turtle etc) will produce an ever denser 'bloom' of more or less stinging jellies to wade and 'swim' in.

Many different types of kelp in beautiful shapes. A living hermit crab (Pagurus sinuatus) walking about in a big shell. One cuttlefish whole and the other with arms and tentacles cut off, cooking on the sand. 'Cheap bait'? Desperate fishing people swish nets of stinking fishheads on the sand, maybe to attract sharks? An abundance of fishing junk all along, reels, nylon etc.

At the pipes of sub-urban eutrophication lingers a mysterious smell. Intertidal critters do their best to coat the pipe. Terns love the safety of the tall signs. Real driftwood, washed in by the king tide.

The human contribution: Smoking all over the beach, toxic butts in the surf. Large groups of young people all with unprotected heads in the water and on the beach. Their coaches and carers are well covered from uv radiation.
On the sand and in the surf, the smell and sound of petrol racing. Roaring, smelly boats in 'operational areas', getting close to bodies in the surf. Buggies racing along the sand, without an apparent urgency for speed. One day it will be termed an 'accident'.
Commercial speed boats spin right into the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve, depriving the marine fauna of a safe habitat. Swimmers and divers are in great danger form aquatic 'wheelies'. The airspace also has more frequent hovering of helicopters, private and commercial 'joy flights'.

On the litter front, the usual 'one mouthful' wrappers and containers, many balloons, gift wrapping and other marine debris on the shore line.

Denise Ellis Kelly pointed out how a speeding motor had killed a Little Penguin. She also mentioned how the shark net tangled and drowned a dolphin at xmas. (Manly Daily, 140109, p. 22) This is probably just the visible 'tip of an iceberg'. The motor boat and living body interface is as deadly and polluting as terestial traffic. Ban, reduce and lower speed. Motorised lifesavers' high speed is only warranted if life is in danger.

Aerial plastic tangle in the form of kites, string and balloons are left in the tall pines for animals to get entangled in.

The extreme light pollution along the beach from North Steyne Club to Queenscliff pool is an “ecological trap” for wildlife and a blinding nuisance for people. One light bellows out CO2 pollution during the day as well. What a waste.


150109 Image 2 & 4 :Penguin art exhibition by children in the Manly Library. "Boats can hurt penguins. Slow down!"

A moray eel washed up, strangled by fishing line right behind the neck. Another inhabitat of the Cabbage Bay Marine Reserve reef became victim of fishing by-kill.
More Crested Terns (Sterna bergii) indicating heat to come.

The daily junkspace: unwanted flimsy plastic sun tents, generously left behind when broken down after a low usage rate. Large sheets of plastic tarp and the usual unwanted plastic bits.

On the beach walkway - many cars, unloading their commercial loads for the day. The council “green machine” billowing black smoke, repelling people from using the beach parade. The noise and pollution impact on beach users from driving on pedestrian paths is considerable. Operators stop for long periods to engage in long 'ride on conversations' – all with running motors of course, as it is customary in CO2 belching hot Australia. The accumulated fumes from the diesel-intensive mechanical sweeping and the decibel pollution drives people from the public space which is apparently being 'cleaned' for them. 220109Another large dead moray eel with a tumor/growth? on the side of its body. A dead frog and many blue bottles. A hot ocean and the feeling of desertification racing. Despite it all, SUVs and airconditioners are pumping up the Hot Planet. 300109