INTERCONNECTEDNESS - what does that mean?

INTERCONNECTEDNESS - Goodness, that is a mouthful!

If you don't get a feel for this word perhaps you've heard the term interdependence, another mouthful, or more specifically, ecosystem services. The invisible axiomatic truth is that pretty much everything is connected to everything else. That may be in a primary sense, right here right now, or manifest as a kind of ripple effect off to the side or into the future. Simplistically we might refer to this as a domino effect.

The images below illustrate how we NEED to have healthy environmental systems, plants and animals, in order to have a chance for healthy lives ourselves. And sometimes, as in the case of Mangroves, we have for many years simply treated them with disdain. Below you can see a summary, written for a US audience, of how mangroves help us and what threatens them.



Below gives an inkling of the negative things happening everyday across world mangroves.

[These images were taken from the IUCN website article referencing the importance of mangroves at  https://www.iucn.org/theme/marine-and-polar/our-work/climate-change-and-oceans/mangroves-and-coastal-ecosystems ]

This earth we live on has such a complex, diverse and enigmatic web of interconnected effects. Everything we do affects this place we live.

People have been working on understanding what when why and how these connections work over the entire evolution of humankind. Which are the things that effect our health and well-being and those things that are detrimental.

Human inventiveness and adaptability has affected those natural systems and their often hidden interconnections have affected our planet. Fire gave us comfort, better health and protection from animals who might eat us and it can burn forests down. Being able to grow crops has given us a steady food source and it has drained rivers and polluted receiving waters and lead to a changed pattern of eating.

Who would have thought that it took about 3,000 litres of water to get that yummy burger into your mouth? 

The more there are of us, the more changes we make. The statistics tell us that there are about 7.7 billion people on earth today, an increase of 6.1 billion people in only 117 years. The environmental systems that make the world habitable for us, producing breathable air, food, clean water, ARE struggling under the weight of our human numbers.

Is the climate changing? Well, clearly, it always does. Are we affecting the changing climate in ways that are different to past history? How could we not with the burgeoning number of people on the planet?

Humankind are such smart creatures. It's time to take stock of our interconnectedness. We will need to pull in our belts and make some brave decisions to look after mother earth and the cradle of the sea in order to ensure our own life on earth.

www.ausmepa.org.au

REDMAP; Keeping an eye on change

The Redmap website invites you to share sightings of fish and marine critters that you think are ‘uncommon’ and do not usually live along your coastline. Over time, Redmap will use your ‘citizen science’ data and photos to sketch a picture of Australian fish and marine species that may be extending their distribution range – a.k.a shifting house - in response to changes in the marine environment, such as warming seas. Redmap allows Australians to collect their own marine data, share stories and upload photos of ‘unusual’ sightings. Redmap is science created by the people for the people It is really exciting to see what people discover and how things are changing in the ocean. You should take a peek at https://www.redmap.org.au/

www.ausmepa.org.au

GREAT VICTORIAN FISH COUNT is ON AGAIN in PORTSEA!

Below you can see the flyer for this seasons Victorian FISH COUNT by ReefWatch and Parks Victoria. If you live down south you'll find that it is a fun activity to help keep track of what is going on in Port Phillip Bay at Portsea.

ReefWatch

Hi Jody,

The 2019 Great Victorian Fish Count is here!

Dive and snorkel groups across the state will be taking part in the annual Great Victorian Fish Count over the next 4 weeks. We're also thrilled to be offering special 'For Beginners' and 'Wild Families' Great Victorian Fish Count activities as part of the program. See all the details below. 

Every year, hundreds of people take part in Victoria's largest marine citizen science event to create a snapshot of the species that call Victoria's coastal waters home

This year, the Ornate Cowfish is the 'face' of the Great Victorian Fish Count, Victoria's largest marine citizen science event. These colourful cowfish remind everyone that our marine life rocks and with many opportunities to explore the Great Southern Reef and other spectacular natural marine habitats all along Victoria's coast during the fish count, who knows what else you'll find out there.

The Great Victorian Fish Count is on from 16 November to 15 December, so it's time to jump in the water now! 

You can find a fish count event near you here. 

The Count has been running since 2002, led by the Victorian National Parks Association in partnership with Museum Victoria, Parks Victoria, Coastcare Victoria, RedMap, local dive operators and local community groups with support from the Victorian Government. 

Find a fish count event!

Special Wild Families Great Victorian Fish Count activities

'Wild Families', The Victorian National Parks Association's family nature program, is thrilled to be hosting Great Victorian Fish Counts for families with kids over 8 years old. The snorkelling event will be led by Dive2U with all equipment supplied (but bring your own wetsuit if you can).

Details:

When: Sunday 24 November 10am and 12 noon

Where: Rye Pier

Cost: VNPA members free, VNPA non-members $10 per person or $25 per family. (You can join VNPA membership here.)

For bookings (essential as numbers are limited) contact AJ Morton, dive@dive2u.com or 0409 411 299.

Special Great Victorian Fish Count activities for beginners

This year, the Victorian National Parks Association is encouraging people to give the Great Victorian Fish Count a try for the first time and experience the unique marine life in Port Phillip Bay. With our partners Bayplay we are hosting a special activity at Portsea Pier.

Details: 

When: Saturday 7 December 10am or 12noon

Where: Portsea Pier, 3755 Point Nepean Rd, Portsea

Cost: VNPA members free, non-members $10 per person or $25 per family. (You can join VNPA membership here.)

Registration essential at bookings@bayplay.com.au or (03) 5984 0888

Beginner snorkellers welcome.

We’d love you to join us!

Nicole Mertens
ReefWatch Project Officer
nicole@vnpa.org.au
(03) 9341 6509

Love the Great Victorian Fish Count? Support ReefWatch!

ReefWatch is our marine citizen-science program training volunteers like you to collect important information about Victoria's unique marine life.
Find out more here.

ReefWatch is a program of the Victorian National Parks Association.

Help protect Victoria's nature

www.ausmepa.org.au

LETS SAVE OUR SEAS - THE GREEK CONNECTION

Following a successful presentation at The World Maritime University in Malmo, AUSMEPA Executive Office, Julie Nash traveled on to Greece where she met with founding INTERMEPA members the Helenic Marine Environment Protection Association - HELMEPA

HELMEPA and AUSMEPA have a special bond. AUSMEPA, formed in the year 2000, is one of many offshoots from the original innovative Greek association formed in 1982. 

That's 37 years of educating, acting and changing behaviour! 

Additionally first Chairman of AUSMEPA was Captain Michael Alexander, who was raised in Greece. Captain Alexander lead AUSMEPA through some creative early years and stayed on in an advisory capacity for many years afterwards.

HELMEPA has done a remarkable job in demonstrating how the Greek community could and would make a difference to their coastal waters and shores. 

While visiting the HELMEPA education centre Ms Nash interacted with Greek students who showed a strong desire to help their environment. One activity undertaken regularly is beach clean-up. 

Thanks HELMEPA for leading the way and giving us all a wonderful example of how a motivated community can make a difference.  You can visit the HELMEPA website here.

www.ausmepa.org.au

EMISSION CONTROL - AUSTRALIA'S NEWEST BEST TOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

EMISSION CONTROL - AUSTRALIA'S NEWEST BEST TOOL IN THE SPOTLIGHT

The Australian Marine Environment Protection Association (AUSMEPA) wowed the audience of the Global Maritime Technology Cooperation Centres (MTCC ) Network Project gathered in Malmo Sweden during the first week of October this year.

 AUSMEPA's Executive Officer, Ms. Julie Nash, took the stage to unveil the Marine Emissions Portal - Australia's MEP.

The members of the MTCC project came from universities, organisations and agencies from around the world for a Seminar on Trends and Challenges following the Paris Agreement to and to look at information that could help them reach their environmental targets.

Ms Nash said "It was truly an honour to be before this group who are dedicated to raising the bar on the environmental outcomes for the ocean."

The audience enthusiastically responded to her presentation and the MEP was given an opportunity to demonstrate how ship emissions could be monitored in real time - right here, right now.  

The dashboard for the MEP then went live on stage and was able to show sulphur, nitrogen, carbon and particulate matter emissions from ships at one of the participating pilot ports.

"This tool is a game changer," Julie said, "as it has been expensive and untimely for ports and decision makers to review emissions from ships in the past. The MEP tool will change all of that. It relies on AIS tracking (through Oceaneering) and big data (through Rightship). The operation has been rigorously trialled and validated independently. Now benchmarking for emissions will be easy and can be reviewed with the most up to date information available."

"MEP was developed with seed funding achieved through the Google Impact Challenge Australia grant win in 2016.

AUSMEPA, a not for profit, is largely an environmental education organisation developing educational materials for schools and for the maritime sector. As a country that relies on international shipping, emissions are an important community issue.” 

“In order to drive the project forward we have the perfect partner in Rightship who are committed to reducing risks for a cleaner safer maritime industry. As a result Rightship, based in Melbourne, have taken inquiries and orders from around the world.” Julie said. 

AUSMEPA are incredibly proud of this new tool and from the audience response it is set for significant uptake as a useful, relevant and relatively inexpensive tool.

The Seminar was funded by the European Union (EU) with implementation by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), AUSMEPA thanks the IMO for the invitation to speak as well as sponsors Rightship and consultants Oceaneering for making this tool come to life.Their help made it possible to develop an innovative tool that will contribute to air quality as well as keeping our oceans healthy.

www.ausmepa.org.au

BIODIVERSITY MONTH - What can you do to help the marine environment?

The 2016 State of the Environment report states that: "Three coastal or marine ecosystems were listed as threatened ecological communities under the EPBC Act during the past 5 years: 

Saltmarsh rehabilitation Townsville

• the Giant Kelp Marine Forests of South East Australia (2012) and 
      Posidonia australis seagrass meadows of the Manning–Hawkesbury ecoregion                (2015) were listed as endangered 
    
• Subtropical and Temperate Coastal Saltmarsh (2013) was listed as vulnerable

Biodiversity creates a balance, a give and take, that gives our lives stability and health. These and other marine systems protect biodiversity, one of the keys to humanities survival. 

Our very good friends in South Australia put out a great newsletter and like many of us they are focusing on biodiversity month.They brought up some very good points in their recent article.

"strong urban ecosystems – including a wide variety of native plants, animals and insects that enhance biodiversity values – are good for the humans who live in our cities and suburbs.The more variation in vegetation, the more variation in the animal life it will attract – which in turn increases valuable ‘services’ such as plant pollination. Scientists are beginning to find evidence that being in nature has a profound impact on our brains and our behaviour. It helps reduce anxiety and stress, boosts our attention span and creativity, and increases our ability to connect with other people"

Having healthy coastal and marine waters also provides us, and other animals, with life sustaining services. The health of these systems is eroding. We see it almost everyday on the internet and on the news but what can we do about that? We live on the land and that marine environment is way out there under the water!

What we CAN do is be mindful of our choices on the land since everything we do on the land affects the sea sooner or later! We can be proactive and make some changes to encourage better biodiversity locally; at your house, on your street and in your community.

1. Eliminate or reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers which leach off the land and into the stormwater run-off. Check online to see if you can find some of the do it yourself remedies for garden issues. 
    • worm farms can chew up kitchen waste while giving you back nutrients for the garden.
    • composting your garden refuse provides a circle of life right in your own yard.
    • make your own homemade white oil and other organic solutions to keep pests away.
    • join community action groups who are restoring habitats nearby 
    • plant native plants that enhanced biodiversity and that our wildlife depends upon.


2. Make your yard native friendly so that birds and butterflies have something to eat and install an easy to make "bee hotel" to assist the mild mannered native bees that don't form hives. Although if you like to have hive bees there are plenty of natives that will be happy to oblige given the right kind of hive boxes.

3. Examine what you actually NEED to get by and reduce your consumption. Walking down the street past shops one can wonder how in the world people buy so much stuff! The thrift shops do pretty well out of those excesses but unfortunately most all of our relentless spending ends up in our overwhelmed tips and garbage dumps. Buy second hand and look for things that will last.

4. Use your imagination and find alternative solutions to avoid single use plastics. Single use plastics have become an ocean scourge affecting the lives of marine animals and the general health of the sea. Most everything we buy has waste packaging that can become a death sentence in the environment. 

Humans are adaptable. That's how we have come as far as we have. With some simple habit changes and actions we can definitely change our impact on our over stressed world and encourage local biodiversity.

www.ausmepa.org.au

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

I've often spoken with students about the excitement of present giving holidays like birthdays and all the rest. They invariably tell me about the newest brightest shiniest new thing that has taken their fancy.

The discussion comes suddenly to a screeching halt when I explain that my most favourite gift was a very old, brownish stonelike object totally absent of any whistles and bells and no electronic diet. The hush over the students is sheer disbelief .

When I then begin to explain that they owe their lives to this little stone-like thing I present before them, you can see on their faces they are quite sure that I have gone completely around the twist and I have their attention!

Microsopic image from UC Berkeley article here

For these are images of a stromatolite. Stromatolites are the constructs that currently 'house' the very first life to create energy from water and sunlight called cyanobacteria.

Cyanobacteria sweetened the poisonous atmosphere of earth during the Archaean and Proterozoic Eras by generating the oxygen that we depend on. This change was important in shaping the course of earth's history through evolution and ecological change.

There are only two places major places in the world where you can see living stromatolites. One place is the Hamelin Pools in Western Australia. The Hamelin Pool is the most extensive living stromatolite system in the world and they live in water that is twice as salty as normal seawater. It is so salty that seasnails that might fancy a nice meal of cyanobacteria can't survive.

Seagrass meadows form a buffer or barrier between the the Hamelin Pool and the rest of the ocean and prevent dilution of the super salty water. However the seagrass is under threat from pollution and human traffic. 

The Hamelin Pool is a protected area.and visitors have restricted access by boardwalk. 

 Photo by Jason Bartsch...See more here  

Since those life changing days so much has happened and ocean phytoplankton now provide more than half of the air we need to breathe. 

There were no bells and whistles with stromatolites but these mushroom-like rocky mounds are the legacy of our ocean and atmosphere heroes, the cyanobacteria. Without them todays plants and animals, that we need to exist, wouldn't be here and neither would we.

Australia, what an amazing ocean continent.

 www.ausmepa.org.au