Little Penguins, Electrocuted Birds, Mauling Dogs, Bogong Moths, Spilled Oil and Artistic Inspiration

A visit to the the Manly Art Gallery, where the current exhibition is by Bruce Goold. The designer/printmaker displays woodcuts/linocuts of iconic Australian objects. Nautical themes and Aussie flora and fauna get mingled with sub-urban culture jamming. The fragipani, banana and (unfortunately) bamboo convey that coastal holiday feeling.

Some thoughts on the following themes seen there, which are relevant for the northern beaches:

'Telegraph crows' 1995 depicts Australian Crows getting electrocuted in power lines. Think about it every time you flick on that convenient switch, how many birds and other fauna get killed and crippled by this underdeveloped landscape feature bringing power to you.

The design with Bogong moths was very timely as they will start their annual migration next month. This gets too messy for tidy-town then.

Eora Rock engraving of Little Penguin, close to Lion Island

'Lion Island' depicts a Sydney nature reserve. On its beach is a Little Penguin (Eudyptula minor) and a large poodle looking very canine. This ever-same theme of irresponsible people bringing their mostly degenerated canines into protected wildlife refuges that are of great biodiversity is unfortunately repeating. Maybe Lion Island will no longer have the 'largest penguin colony' in Sydney if the boat & dog community continue to defy the law.
The few remaining little penguins in Manly get regularly mauled by off-the-leash dogs. One of their 'habitats' at the Manly Cove is a busy human infrastructure with fireworks, bands and other mass events. The little bird needs to live in a partial marine and partial terrestial territory. This is the space where human impact in Manly is most noticeable.

Habitat for Manly's endangered Little Penguin population (pdf) , Manly Cove. More than a webcam needed here.

'Pasha Bulka' 2008 visualises the stranding of a huge cargo ship beached on a Newcastle surfing beach in 2007. 'Heavy fuel oil ' ran into the Pacific Ocean. Such scenarios are not unthinkable for the Manly region. For now, we get the sulphur particle emission from ships that are near Manly.

Outside the Art Gallery there were numerous very large motor bikes parked on the “pedestrian and bicycle path only”. Aerial garbage is a new thing here: Plastic kites in Manly Beach pines, a very long nylon fishing line dangling from a tall palm in front of the gallery, waiting for that next bird to entangle. Aqua-parking as far as the eye could see in Manly Cove, right along the penguin's feeding grouds. Wharf construction set the acoustic ambience.
See also Bogong migration incompatible with humans

Links:
- Endangered Population of Little Penguins (Eudyptula minor) at Manly, NP, pdf
- Caution: Electrocution! Suggested Practices for Bird Protection on Power Lines, BUND, pdf
Update: 0709 The slaughter of 11 Little Penguins by a dog/s in their last mainland habitat on mainland NSW.

Shelly Beach Palm Gully Creek

Walking along Marine Parade (Manly Beach to Shelly Beach) today. Wondering why most of the large figs are so sparse and losing their leaves. Herbicide? Better views? Dogs, off leashes chasing the few Eastern Water Dragons trying to rest on the hot sandstones. Bulging black (leaking) plastic bags of untreated! feces hanging around picnic-lawns, near the walkway and beach. Weeds spilling down the nice sand stonewalls from the properties above. On the Ocean side, at the Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve huge boats parked right in the little bay, stirring up the bottom of the delicate “reserve”. Swimmers and divers risk their lives swimming near these motorised McMasions.

Finally at busy Shelly Beach, all seem to be unaware of the high pollution at the beach, mixing fecal bacteria with blue Pacific water. It is a mystery why Shelly Headland is not part of the National Park or a Reserve. Just handed over to car parking and as a dog loo. Middens and Stone tools mashed up as cement to bang in access for easy fishing. Cunningham's Skinks (pdf) are deserting the area and Bandicoots are living dangerously there at night with dogs hunting.

A state of shame in water management
The stairs near the Kiosk lead up to a remnant of a creek that used to flow into the Palm cove of Shelly Beach in the old days. Today a walkway leads to Bower Street and the water management is a disgrace. Years ago a beautiful rainforest has been planted alog this creek, which has its origin on North Head. Most properties have weeds spilling into the (name-less?) 'reserve'. But the biggest shame are the many blatant PVC pipes directing their point source pollution INTO that water which flows into Shelly Beach. The point at the bridge, where most pipes discharge their private waste looked like oily smelly yuck. Surface runoff from building sites also just flows into the little gully. How can such a waterway and bushland be treated so carelessly?

But then there are many pipes flowing all along Marine Parade into the Aquatic Reserve. The thick green 'fur' on the rock testifies to this eutrophication which in turn causes harmful algae to grow.

Images: 1.Swimmers having to swim around a yacht on Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic RESERVE, 2 & 3 Creek Gully, stairs to Bower St. from Shelly Beach, re-vegetated wit run-off at many points.
Update:
Preventing red tides at Shelly Beach, 061008
Links:
Streamwatch
Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas

Petrol or penguins in an aquatic reserve?

Jet Skis and other motorised watercraft will be banned from the Cape Byron Marine Park. No more aquatic motorbikes fuming out the air, endangering swimmers and surfers around Brunswick Heads and Lennox Head.
Manly Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve often has Jet Skis, Yachts and other motorised watercraft parking there and speeding through. This is a danger especially for the Little penguins. One day they'll ban these petrol powered crafts on Manly's shores too. Does anyone know if motoring on top of an aquatic reserve is legal?

Plundering Aquatic Reserves and getting away with it

Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve has been listed on the National Estate register since 1991. It is a 'no-take' aquatic reserve in which people are not permitted to fish by any method, destroy marine life, or collect dead or alive marine organisms, including empty shells. The Marine Pde. is a popular walkway beside this 'No Take' area on which walkers and swimmers can enjoy the biodiversity of the area.

Right after the Manly (beach) SLSC, at Manly Point beside a sign 2 spearfishers were plundering the Reserve today at 12.30. Many walkers stopped and looked, no action.There were also swimmers near the armed robbers.


Then a Manly Surf Lifesaver came running from the club and made one of the thieves put the large nets and bags back into the ocean. There were beautiful tropical looking fish in there, blood dripping every where. I urged the lifesaver to inform the authorities, but he declined. When I finally got to a phone, the Fisheries Dept. was on hold - for ages - then an intelligent agent asked for specifics... A walk to council, referred on to the next phone to ring the ranger. There they wanted the identities and claimed Fisheries were responsible. There was that lunch time feeling in the air.

Almost daily there are people illegally collecting and destroying marine animals along this very small protected area. There are signs all along the way, that are self explanatory (images). The threatened fine is supposed to be $ 22,000. The enforcement seems to be outsourced to the public. It is really expected to face the 2 young men with their 2 m long weapons in a public place. Deliver 'their identities' to the relevant authorities in time.


A protected area is only as protected if the law is effectively enforced. Citizens can cooperate, but must see positive effects to not lose confidence in the enforcing authorities.

This was not the only incident today, although it had commercial proportions, there was also someone scratching in the intertidal area with metal implements for living shellfish. There is usually more happening at night, as reported before

There is a possibility for commentary here, just in case anyone out there can identify the armed plunderers.

Click pictures for enlargement. There are many more..

Update: 08102008 Plundering-cabbage-tree-bay-marine again

Cuttle 'fish' all over Shelley beach

A walk on Shelley beach (03.08) at night exposed a beach littered in cephalopoda, you might know it as the "stuffed with…thing". Approximately 13 white cuttle 'fish' each 30- 40 cm long were lying all over the beach. 'Natural stranding?' They have been around for some 542 million years now and are still performing their rituals in the protected Cabbage Tree Bay area. Many large boats came right in in the last days and went about their 'business'. These strandings go unreported. Bait?,boat chemicals or just tangled in nets?
Some more images and information is here. Detailled scientific illustrations of anatomy and morphology of Sepia officinalis are here.