Pelican Expeditions- sharing the story

To celebrate #WorldOceansDay 🐬 Saltwater Projects 🐬 presents the Pelican Time Machine/ Sounding The Bay

Listen to an ecoaccoustic story walk, designed to be heard as you imagine walking (or actually walk) along the foreshore in Geelong. Starting at Steam Packet Gardens, the walk navigates Cunningham Pier and back, ending down Alexander Thompson Pier in front of the carousel. You might gain some fresh perspectives on Geelong, from a watery point of view. The sound walk takes half an hour. If you do amble and listen in place- the Geelong foreshore is very accessible for all abilities. Be aware that you may be passed by a miniature tourist train on your way.

Photo: State Library Queensland. Lightening on fire.

Narrators: Jennifer Vuletic N’arweet Carolyn Briggs Sound mix: Steve Stelios Adam Sound recordings: Natalie Davey, Andrew Skeoch Borrowed Landscape compositions: Steve Stelios Adam with Anna Liebzeit Written by Natalie Davey Producers: Natalie Davey Kate Daddo

Promo for the Pelican Time Machine. 

During the Ecocentre day out we ran a sediment sampling run, looking for microplastics in the sediment of the Maribynong River. Port Phillip Bay has had very few studies of this type and hopefully the work done over the last years by researchers and government agencies can be ramped up to discover the depth of the problem, literally. 

We have teamed with Dr Mark Osborn and Dr Slobodanka Stojkovic from RMIT this year to analyse our samples which are collected daily during the Two Bays 2016 program. Last year we did the same and it emerged from those studies that the most abundant microplastic in our samples (from Port Phillip Bay) was from plastic fibres in clothes. The EPA has given a huge amount of in-kind support to our citizen science arm of the project and we were fortunate to have Dr Randall Lee on board to help with the sampling on this day.

  We had two methods for sampling during this year's Two Bays. We daily ran a microplastics trawl and collected microplastics at the end of the day from 212 micron and 425 micron sieves, from water  (from the water column about a meter beneath the vessel) pumped into Pelican 1. We also, as pictured above, did some sediment testing. The scientists are looking at the microplastics that may end up deposited in the sediment. There has not been a lot of study yet about the microplastics in marine sediment and interactions between these plastic particles and toxicants, which are known to fuse with the plastic. The tiny pieces also attract other organisms, who leap on the life-raft of plastic chance to create miniature ecologies. We hope to further this much needed field of investigation in our home embayment and develop more studies for Two Bays 2017.

Below is a photo of our Marine Educator Harry Breidahl, showing another sediment dweller- sea cucumbers. Unfortunately we did not study these little critters to see if they had ingested microplastics but we will endeavour to include them in our future studies.

During the Ecocentre day out we ran a sediment sampling run, looking for microplastics in the sediment of the Maribynong River. Port Phillip Bay has had very few studies of this type and hopefully the work done over the last years by researchers and government agencies can be ramped up to discover the depth of the problem, literally. 

We have teamed with Dr Mark Osborn and Dr Slobodanka Stojkovic from RMIT this year to analyse our samples which are collected daily during the Two Bays 2016 program. Last year we did the same and it emerged from those studies that the most abundant microplastic in our samples (from Port Phillip Bay) was from plastic fibres in clothes. The EPA has given a huge amount of in-kind support to our citizen science arm of the project and we were fortunate to have Dr Randall Lee on board to help with the sampling on this day.

  We had two methods for sampling during this year's Two Bays. We daily ran a microplastics trawl and collected microplastics at the end of the day from 212 micron and 425 micron sieves, from water  (from the water column about a meter beneath the vessel) pumped into Pelican 1. We also, as pictured above, did some sediment testing. The scientists are looking at the microplastics that may end up deposited in the sediment. There has not been a lot of study yet about the microplastics in marine sediment and interactions between these plastic particles and toxicants, which are known to fuse with the plastic. The tiny pieces also attract other organisms, who leap on the life-raft of plastic chance to create miniature ecologies. We hope to further this much needed field of investigation in our home embayment and develop more studies for Two Bays 2017.

Below is a photo of our Marine Educator Harry Breidahl, showing another sediment dweller- sea cucumbers. Unfortunately we did not study these little critters to see if they had ingested microplastics but we will endeavour to include them in our future studies.

Evening in St Kilda...

The Two Bays program has completed its 10th year, although this year we really should have named it One Bay as we focussed only on Port Phillip Bay. We completed a number of very diverse days around Port Phillip with an overarching science component of capturing microplastics wherever we travelled. The results of the microplastics trawl are now being analysed by the EPA. Over the years we have formed many partnerships to give a broad platform for community, schools, government and council agencies to enhance their knowledge and  engagement with the extraordinary marine backyard and its cultural wealth that is situated beside the metropolis of Melbourne.

We have been very fortunate to partner with Harry Breidahl from Nautilus education for the past six years. He has been instrumental in activating our Two Bays curriculum (written by Andrew Vance) with school students. Much of the structual design of our curriculum is based on the concept of Ocean Literacy-developed by marine educators in the States.

 Here is some further information about Ocean Literacy from Harry Breidahl himself.

The concept of Ocean Literacy originally began to develop in the USA in response to the fact that ocean topics didn’t fit neatly into science disciplines and were mostly ignored in formal K-12 education. Even more telling was the fact that there was no systematic teaching about the ocean. The result of all of this was the inescapable fact that the American public were largely ignorant of the importance of the ocean in their lives. 

 You don’t need to look around too far to see that the situation here in Australia is exactly the same. The great news is that marine educators and marine scientists in the USA worked collaboratively to address these important issues. The result of their endeavours was the concept of Ocean Literacy, a concept that is now widely accepted internationally. 

 So what is Ocean Literacy? 

 Ocean Literacy is an understanding the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean. 

 Further, an ocean-literate person understands: 

the essential principles and fundamental concepts about the ocean; 

can communicate about the ocean in a meaningful way; and 

is able to make informed and responsible decisions regarding the ocean and its resources. 

 There are 7 principles of Ocean Literacy – ideas scientists and educators agree everyone should understand about the ocean. 

 Principle 1: The Earth has one big ocean with many features. 

Principle 2: The ocean and life in the ocean shape the features of Earth. 

Principle 3: The ocean is a major influence on weather and climate. 

Principle 4: The ocean makes the Earth habitable. 

Principle 5: The ocean supports a great diversity of life and ecosystems. 

Principle 6: The ocean and humans are inextricably interconnected. 

Principle 7: The ocean is largely unexplored. 

 Everything associated with Ocean Literacy has been made freely available in the USA and has already been used to address many of the issues that initiated the whole process in that nation. Ocean Literacy, the 7 principles and the extensive Scope and Sequence are also highly relevant to Australia and Australian marine educators and scientists have full access to all of this great work at http://oceanliteracy.wp2.coexploration.org. It would be wonderful to see Ocean Literacy taken up in a big way in our island nation (a few of us are already working on that). 

Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park

Saturday 28th February 2015

Parks Victoria is delighted to invite you to join us aboard the SV Pelican 1 to participate in a variety of community monitoring activities at Mud Islands, Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park as a part of the Two Bays 2015 program.

The day is focussed on encouraging greater community participation in Port Phillip’s marine protected areas and ongoing monitoring for these parks. The activities undertaken form part of the Sea Search Program developed for community monitoring in Victoria’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries. Information collected through Sea Search is used to inform management as well as provide meaningful opportunities for community involvement. 

WHEN? Saturday 28th February 2015.

Meet at 8:00am in front of the Parks Victoria Queenscliff Office for an 8:30 departure from Queenscliff Harbour, returning around 4:30pm (see map).

WHO? The program is open to all those with an interest in marine monitoring from across the state. Community volunteers from various Friends Groups, representatives from key partner organisations, and Parks Victoria staff will be involved on the day. Preference is given to new participants that have not been involved in this program in previous years.

WHAT? Travel from Queenscliff to Mud Islands Learn about key values and threats to this part of the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park Actively participate in monitoring activities focussed on

Seagrass Marine pests Marine debris Shorebirds and seabirds

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WHERE? The focus for the program will be Mud Islands section of the Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park. 

WHAT TO BRING?

Appropriate clothing for a day on the boat and on Mud Islands. You should wear appropriate footwear / clothes that can get wet to wear for going ashore and for walking around on the islands. Bring a change of clothes for the trip back. Note: Bare feet are not acceptable due to the high risk of injury.

Hot weather - loose, long sleeved top, light pants/shorts, wind jacket, hat and sunscreen (remember it will be cooler on the boat than on land).

Cool weather - warm top and pants, warm jacket, wet weather gear, hat.

For seagrass and marine pest surveys bring: o Snorkellinggearincludingmask,snorkel,andwetsuit(pref.) o Shoesthatcangetwet

For marine debris and bird surveys: You may be wading through water. Bring shoes/clothes which can get wet.  Binoculars/scope if possible

BYO lunch, water bottle, sunscreen, repellent and snacks.

Tea/Coffee/Water provided.

COST? There is no cost for participating in this sponsored community event. 

TO REGISTER OR FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Please send an email to [email protected] providing your name, contact details including a mobile phone number and email address, and a brief indication of your interests in participating. 

For more information on Victoria’s Marine National Parks and Marine Sanctuaries visit www.parks.vic.gov.au

For more information on the Sea Search community monitoring programs visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sea- Search/165127403497450?ref=profile

WHAT IS TWO BAYS 2015?

Two Bays 2015 is an integrated community and stakeholder stewardship program focussed on Victoria’s two most significant embayments, Port Phillip and Western Port.