Plastic Pacific - Manly Beach

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Manly Ocean Care Day - A Green & Blue Network

Manly Ocean Care Day Festival 2008 - Some impressions from along the beachfront:

The Maori community
was demonstrating their fibre and wood craft. Te Papa Wawata Ki Te Moana performed traditional songs. Using Native New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax and Phormium cookianum) women were demonstrating their weaving skills in a Pacific ambiance, that they had created in their hut. Beautiful handbags and backpacks with intricated patterns. Occasionally Pandanus and flax are also used.

There are some New Zealand flax plants in Manly delighting nectar-feeding birds, bats and possums. Of course there are many fibre plants, that the local Guringai population use/d. There are always weaving artefacts by Tjanpi, the Aboriginal women's basket weaving project from the Central Western Desert region of Australia available in Manly.

"Always was, always will be Aboriginal land"
Australians for Native Title and Reconcilitation (ANTaR ) was focussing on “ issues impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”. Their Sea of Hands installation is well known.

The Aboriginal Heritage Office is caring for over 1000 sites of Aboriginal culture and heritage in the areas of Sydney known as North Sydney, Lane Cove, Willoughby, Manly, Warringah, Ku-ring-gai and Pittwater. They educate (pdfs) and one can volunteer to report back on the state of vandalism of the sites.

The Ocean & its wildlife
ORRCA is protecting and affording welfare of seals, sea lions, dolphins and dugongs.The rescue organisation trains people, gives advice on 1st aid for marine mammal rescue. They like to hear of any sightings 24/7 - Ph.: (02) 9415 3333

“The Nature Conservation Council works to conserve nature and protect the water we drink, the air we breathe and the places we love.” It is “a non-profit, non-government organisation representing 120 community environment groups across NSW.” “Save Fluffy”, seemed so appropriate for Manly, with on average 2-3 dogs in harness. But they do mean the local Grey Nurse Shark which needs saving from exctinction.

NPA~Marine is the marine sector of NPA (National Parks Association of NSW), they are working with local communities, industries, scientists and government... to help create healthy oceans for the future of NSW.

Terrestial
The North Head Sanctuary will get its own nursery and propagate endemic flora.
Gardening
Great to hand out native Australian (endemic) plants.
Permaculture North is "Sharing Sustainable Solutions with Communities" They offer "an amazing array of skills in self reliance, energy & water conservation, qualified permaculture design and teaching". Rumour has it that there might be a community garden in the future and nature strips will be released from the terror of lawns and petrol 'gardening'.
Fauna
WIRES is "helping injured, orphaned and displaced wildlife".
The stuffed variety of Australian wildlife was preferred as no one wanted to cuddle the poor creatures into discomfort. Leave them in THEIR habitat.
The cat cage was a good idea and should be compulsory.
A dog on the beach, as every day.
Draining Sub-urbia
Stormwater displays - where did all that coloured water go? Did they come in a cleaned car?
Public Spaces
People from Little Manly Beach want a public reserve zoned as Open Space not more real estate.


Edibles - Slow & Local Food
Slow Foods Sydney would like to “preserve and promote local culinary traditions and foods.” Go local-vore and organic, educate about junk food, agribusiness and factory foods. They do not like pesticides, but regional markets. Where were all the Manly chefs?

The Manly Food Coop, for that very local, low packaging organic food - of course.

Sustainable Seafoodies - Soon there will be an "an online guide to sustainable seafood in NSW" Again Manly chefs, do take note on your menues!

A lot on watertanks, solar equipment and light green commodities.
There were many more stalls and activities...

Ideas for future actions
It would be desirable to hand out less dead tree material and refer/put information/displays on the web. Additional networking could strengthen the causes and communities. There seemed to be a forest of resposibilities, eg if this creature is on the beach, in the ocean, on state territory or NPs etc. It is confusing. Too many boarder/ interests for the flux of life. An integrated ecological management plan would benefit the blue & green and all creatures in these biomes.
Images:
1. Maori weaving
2. "Save Fluffy", Save the Grey Nurse Shark, nccnsw
3. Rigtail Possum, dazzled by the daylight
4. The Event along the Manly Beachfront
More:
Manly Beach Ocean Care Day Animation
Ocean Care - Of Albatrosses and Red Tides
Stuff at Manly Beach on November 2008 and December 2008

Mutilated Green Sea Turtle and Fishing Debris

Green sea turtle, O8R051 was found mutilated by fishing gear debris. It took zoo staff four months to rehabilitate the creature.:

"A fishing line had cut a flipper to the bone and X-rays showed she also had a fish hook lodged in her throat. Her face had been badly bruised when she thrashed out in panic with her flippers in vain attempts to escape the fishing line. The bruising triggered an eye discharge, leaving her almost blind....We see a lot of turtles here... estimating half have swallowed fishing lines or hooks, or have become entangled in lines. Many others have ingested garbage. Still others have been attacked by cats or dogs on beaches." SMH

Once a marine park is established, it would be desirable to prohibit this mutilation, by-kill and mindless sharing of marine debris. 'Recreational Taking & Chucking' is a threat to biodiversity. "We can't expect to have over 93 per cent of our waters open to fishing and be aware of the fact that our marine life is declining and our habitats are being degraded and not expect that trend to continue." (abc) The control of introduced canines assaulting Australian fauna would require a mind-set change.

Manly Beach Drift "wood" - December

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:

30+ dead Leatherjackets again, possibly Meuschenia flavolineata, (10-20 cm long). Kids playing 'ball' with them. Millions of mostly still alive Ladybirds at the water's edge, struggling. There appeared to be no 'white collar', probably a native. Many aphids, scale insects, mealybugs, and mites will not be eaten this season by this 'gardener's friend'. As with the mass occurrence of dead crickets (021108) it is unknown how they ended up in this environment.
The usual 'fast food' wrappers and many 'gift-wrapping strings' with balloons, ready to entangle. Beach worm 'harvesting' and fishing 'classes' now at the waters' edge. High speed kite surfing poses a serious danger to swimmers/surfers and beach users.
Image: sandsculpture, kelp and pine needles 021208

A seagull had both feet tightly entangled by a fishing string. It could hardly walk or balance. Do we really need 'recreational taking' on busy urban beaches? Container ships hovering on the horizon. 031208

Thousands of Ladybirds struggling at the water's edge again. Seagulls gorging on the live ones. No one seems to notice, as strangers are usually recognised, by exhibiting curiousity and looking at objects at the beach. For the locals it is just a tabula rasa to do stuff on. Giant sand castles with deep trenches, possibly to trap joggers in the dark?. Various container ships cluttering up the horizon, possibly heavy in junk for the coming exchange festivities. At the North Steyne cliff end a White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) was stalking insects and amphibians in the urban run off. Rock engravings of the Eora people depict this coastal bird doing its thing for thousands of years. An off leash dog did not allow the bird to continue feeding. 041208

A 2 m long log covered densly in living Crustaceans. The Goose barnacles were of white/blue colour. The life raft was returned to the sea. A pelican was gliding north, looking like a flying ancient lizard.

A double rainbow again, nicely offset against the plump white clouds. A few blue bottles , many dog paw prints in the sand and black dog feces plastic bags sloshing in the water. 051208

Post Care Day and after rain. A huge soggy pond at the pipe. Leaf litter plus sub-urban run off, hanging around the surf. A large amount of garbage, mainly plastics: wrappers, bottles and an unusual amout of 'party ballons' with long 'fancy' wrapping ribbon of all colours- ideal to entangle. Inflated baloons blowing around. Again, full nappies, a syringe and chemical loo cleaner.
A near-death shearwater, an unusual number of seagulls with only one leg. Many blue bottles, nice kelp of all different shapes. Painted driftwood and building materials. The daily dog on the beach, hopping about on the prize winning North Steyne beach. A person flying his surf kite over the heads of swimmers/walkers ('obstacles') at very high speeds. Above the water, control of the medium seems to be beyond the guy stearing it. One day a beach user will be injured by these speeding installations. Council probably is liable for such eventualities. 081208A few small Abalone shells (Haliotis coccoradiata), rarely larger than 3 cm. A nice audio-scape coming from the rows of pines: Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita), Red Wattlebirds, (Anthochaera carunculata) and Ravens (Corvus coronoides). Black faced Cormorants flying north. 091208

Powerful fast clouds stroke the beach. Welcome Swallows (Hirundo neoxena) surfing the dunes at high speed, mopping up insects. Ravens eye the dead fish. Rich leaf litter, blown down the hills from endless noisy debris blowers which move the sub-urban debris into the public gutter and down to the beaches. Civilised places have given up the polluting of air and water a long time ago. 101208

> Drift "wood", November 2008