What happened this year
South Australia
Feral or In Peril Clean Up Day - a success! Reef Watch (Sunday 2 March 2008)
Divers took to the waters around South Australia to clean up and free their local jetties of introduced marine pests. Pests removed from jetty pylons included the invasive European fan worm (Sabella spallanzanii). Dives were held at the Brighton Jetty in Adelaide and at 4 sites on the Yorke Peninsula and Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula.
As well as removing invasive species across the sites divers collected rubbish that included glass bottles garden hoses, car tyres, a shopping trolley, fishing line, a mobile phone and even a scooter.
Reef Watch consulted with Primary Industries and Resources (South Australia) Biosecurity section and had their permission to attempt to remove the prolific European fan worm (Sabella spallanzanii) growing on the jetty piles. A technique using a plastic bag to prevent parts of the worm from floating off into the surrounding environment was used.
Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary (Sunday 2 March 2008)
20 Volunteers conducted a litter survey along a stretch of beach on Torrens Island, in the Port River (Adelaide Dolphin Sanctuary). Students and teachers collected a skip full of litter with the most common item washed up on the beach found to be cigarette butts, items of clothing, thongs, plastic drink and oil containers. There is no public access to this particular beach so ongoing monitoring provides a good indication of what is being thrown overboard from vessels and also what is being carried into the Port River through stormwater.
Kangaroo Island Dolphin Watch (2 March 2008)
KI Dolphin Watch (KIDW) is an award winning School and community dolphin monitoring project. With their official partners the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society KIDW celebrated their 2nd Birthday with a dolphin monitoring field trip and workshop. Andrew Neighbour's Island Explorer of KI Marine Tours was accompanied by a larger vessel allowing for community members, mentors and friends to participate. Although the weather wasn’t ideal students and a number of community members still enjoyed a chance to see how dolphin research is conducted and learnt how they as community member can contribute to ongoing research.
Marine Discovery Centre (1 March 2008)
Each year the Marine Discovery Centre (MDC) in Henley Beach South Australia launches online activities and games to promote Seaweek messages. In 2008 the MDS launched two new games. “Fishing with Les” promote fishing responsibly, learning about catch and release methods and size and bag limits in South Australia. “Birds of the Coast” is a simple game for student to learn facts about the common birds seen along the South Australian coastline.
Fishing with Les
www.marinediscoverycentre.com.au/Games/FishingWithLes.htm
Birds of the Coast
www.marinediscoverycentre.com.au/Games/SeaBirds.htm
OzProject Sea Week 2008 (25 February - 11 April 2008)
This online project provided several opportunities for students to learn about the sea by sharing their knowledge and experiences and collaborating with others. It was been created for students in the Middle Primary years but was adaptable for younger or older students.
The Seaweek project was a very popular event so much so that Oz Project is hoping to host another online event next year.
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