Briefly, User Group Surveys are the data sheets that WMPMEP volunteers have been collecting since January 1998. They are basically tick and flick sheets used by a volunteer anywhere within the WMP, at any time, to record the various ways in which people use the park. The aim of the study is to collect meaningful data about park activities for use by management agencies, planners, decision-makers and stakeholders. The data is another way WMPMEP Project Officers hope to encourage and facilitate community stewardship and sustainable management strategies for WMP.

As you may know, we have strong links with many departments and staff at Central Queensland University – Bundaberg Campus. We are currently working very closely with Angelika Schlotzer, Lecturer in the Faculty of Infomatics and Communication, to develop a project User Group Survey computer database on Microsoft Access to enter, collate, and analyse the data collected thus far. Lead volunteer for data entry, Helen Afflick, Laboratory Technician at CQU, spent October entering a data sample into the prototype database for troubleshooting and initial analysis. Helen suggested numerous minor improvements for the UGS sheets that will streamline both data collection and entry onto a computer so please stay tuned for a NEW LOOK survey form coming your way soon!

There will be a training session for those volunteers who have expressed an interest in data entry onto the database. Our goal is to have all our data entered onto the database by the end of January 2000, so we can use February for analysis and compiling our results for inclusion in our next formal project reports.

This translates to about 250 data sheets that need to be entered each week from now until the end of January, so every little bit you can do will help a lot! Helen estimates that you can enter about 25 data sheets on the computer in about 30 minutes, so even an hour or two a week will make a great contribution to the project!

Data entry will involve:

• knowledge of (or willingness to learn) using and saving computer files on Windows and Microsoft Software (familiarity with computers will help)

• knowledge of (or willingness to learn) Microsoft Access software working on your, or with someone who has, a computer at home, until we are able to negotiate a dedicated computer workstation at a central location for example Central Queensland University.

So do you want to get involved? The training session has been scheduled for Wednesday 17 November between 12pm and 1pm at the University Campus in Bundaberg. The session will be during lunchtime for all of you that work but may still want to get involved. If you cannot make this session, but still want to be involved, please give Sue or Liz a call to arrange an alternative time.

Call now to register your interest – seize the day and get active on your project! We hope to see you there!

MARINE ANIMAL STRANDING WORKSHOP

Found a marine animal washed up on the beach stranded seemingly out of place? What should you do? Is the animal just "hauled out" and having a rest? Should you try and intervene?

It’s so hard to know the right thing to do. By intervening you may put yourself or the animal at risk, so what is the right procedure?

Firstly, during working hours, you should call the Bundaberg office of the Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service on (07) 4153 8620. Out of hours and at weekends, ring 1300 555 555 and quote reference number 72722. You should attempt to give as full a description of the animal and its location as possible and seek further advice.

"Strandings" in this region consist mainly of turtles, (some hauling out to lay eggs) with the occasional seal, whale, dugong and dolphin – all of which can be handled by existing QP&WS staff. But during a mass stranding would you know what to do to help?

Scenario: in a dolphin pod stranding, should you pour water over the heads of the dolphins to cool them down? The simple answer is that you must try to keep the animals cool, but as they are air-breathing mammals like ourselves, then pouring water around or down the blow hole may drown them!

On Wednesday, 24 November between 9am and 2pm, Ranger-in-Charge, Cathy Stutchbury and Ranger Sam Flakus will be hosting a Marine Animal Stranding Workshop / Training Day. Volunteers will be shown a video and how to use basic stranding equipment before running through some practice scenarios. Volunteers completing the workshop will then be able to register for the local Stranding Response Team for when or if such a mass stranding occurred.

Woongarra Marine Park Monitoring & Education Project volunteers can register for this workshop (numbers are strictly limited) by calling Cathy at Mon Repos and leaving your name and a contact phone number on the answerphone by Wednesday, 17 November. You will need comfy clothes, hat, sunscreen and a notebook and pen. Note: please do not expect someone to answer this phone as during the turtle nesting season all QP&WS staff are working at night.

Did you catch the Greenpeace visit?

Greenpeace visited Bundaberg with their yacht, the Tiama, in mid-October to highlight the issue of global climate change and encourage debate within Queensland.

A recently released report: "Climate Change, Coral Bleaching and the Future of the World’s Coral Reefs," commissioned by Greenpeace following last year’s bleaching event, found that unless climate change is stopped, coral bleaching is set to increase in frequency and intensity worldwide until it occurs annually by 2030 – 2070. Current estimates suggest that reefs could take hundreds of years to recover. The loss of these fragile ecosystems would cost billions of dollars in lost revenue from tourism and fishing, as well as result in damage to coastal regions currently protected by reefs.

When you consider that the Great Barrier Reef and the industries that depend upon it, such as tourism, fishing and diving, this has serious implications. Tourism alone on the Great Barrier Reef currently generates around $1.5 billion a year!

The group were particularly worried about the role of oil shale and in particular the planned facility at Gladstone. The group also highlighted renewable energy sources such as solar and wind.

Food for thought isn’t it? Greenpeace are asking people to send submissions to the Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie and the Stuart Oil Shale Project to voice their concerns regarding global warning and the need to phase out fossil fuels.

STORMWATER UPDATE

As we wrote in the previous issue of Splash Zone, stormwater pollution is a major concern to the inhabitants of the Woongarra Marine Park. But what is it?

Stormwater is any water that runs off surfaces such as lawns, roads, roofs, car parks or natural ground surfaces. It is channelled down street drains through a stormwater system and discharges, untreated, into receiving waterways such as creeks, rivers, lakes and the ocean.

There is a separate collection system for sewage, which treats and disposes of sewage from our homes and workplace.

But why the concern about stormwater?

Whilst our coastal communities such as Bargara, Elliott and Burnett Heads are currently not as developed as say the Gold Coast, development is taking place. The quality of stormwater has a dramatic effect on life in our waterways.

What impact exactly does stormwater pollution have?

Substances such as oils, detergents, paints, pesticides, fertilisers, grass cuttings, animal wastes and soil are readily transported by stormwater to our waterways. They can:

What are the solutions to Stormwater Pollution? Preventing contaminants from entering our stormwater system is cost effective and environmentally wise. To do this, we must start thinking about how our everyday activities impact on stormwater and our waterways.

CORAL AND WATER QUALITY MONITORING UPDATES

CORAL MONITORING

Unfortunately, the weather hasn’t been too kind to the Benthic or Coral Monitoring Team over the last few months – but we won’t let that discourage us will we? The truth of the matter is that coral monitoring is not an easy or predictable occupation . . . as the professionals will only be too pleased to tell you. However, a core group of well-trained and dedicated individuals are ready to dive most weekends, with the support of snorkellers (I’ll name no names but Phil you know who you are!) and occasional divers learning the ropes. We’ve come a long way, but we need your help if we are to succeed in achieving a full set of transects at our four sites before the current project funding ceases in February.

Monitoring dates have been set as follows, but if you are on holiday or free on any date and want to dive, then please give us a call as we often have to reschedule dives around the weather! With over 50 registered divers and snorkellers, we’re sorry, but we have to rely on you to remind us if you’d like to be invited! If monitoring isn’t planned, you may be able to help with site reconnaissance, not only that it’s a chance to get in the water and check out the wonders of the Woongarra Marine Park!

The Water Quality Monitoring that we have undertaken on the project is twofold and designed to complement existing data already being collected in the Marine Park by agencies such as the Beach Protection Authority and the Department of Primary Industries.

Firstly, volunteers record physical and environmental parameters of the water at each of the four sample sites. Monitoring is carried out monthly using an electronic probe kit on loan from Burnett Shire Council.

Secondly, water samples are then collected monthly for chlorophyll analysis. Why chlorophyll you ask? Chlorophyll is the pigment in green plants (including algae) and is a useful measure of photosynthetic activity. Measurements of chlorophyll also allow us, once the samples are analysed by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Parks Authority, to compare the Woongarra Marine Park to other coral reefs worldwide.

This more complicated procedure caused this Project Officer more than a few organisational headaches!

Samples must be collected sub-surface, stored in a chilled container for a maximum of two hours and stabilised with a buffer before the chlorophyll is extracted using a $200+ filter and 2.5cm filter paper! Then, after replicates have been carried out, the filter papers are wrapped in foil, labeled and stored in a freezer until being sent to Michelle Devlin, Project Manager Water Quality & Coastal Management, GBRMPA.

Until now, we have met with several problems launching this aspect of the project . . . but Salty’s Dive Centre and DNR volunteers Selina Flannery and Des Heatherton to the rescue. Salty’s have offered the services of their boat and divers to collect the samples, whilst DNR will retrieve the samples and extract the chlorophyll. So a big thank you to all concerned!

SENIOR COASTS & CLEAN SEAS PROJECT OFFICER VISIT

As you are aware, funding for the current phase of the Woongarra Marine Park Monitoring & Education Project is from Natural Heritage Trust, Coasts and Clean Seas. In September, Senior Project Officer from Coasts & Clean Seas, Angela Wardell-Johnson, was able to find time in her very busy working schedule to visit our area and took the opportunity to meet with Project Officer Liz Tanner and the Project Steering Group.

Angela monitors a portfolio of Coasts & Clean Seas funded projects that cover a variety of conservation activities, so she welcomes any opportunity to see on-ground activities and meet groups in person and assist with advice / project management on a group by group basis.

Liz and Angela had an afternoon tour of the coast region, including a stop at Mon Repos Conservation Park to meet Queensland Parks & Wildlife Service Ranger-In-Charge Cathy Stutchbury (tending to a very sick loggerhead turtle). From there it was a whistle stop tour of the Woongarra Marine Park from Bargara boat ramp and Burkitt’s Reef, Woongarra Scenic Drive, and Nudibranch Park / Hoffman’s Rocks.

Liz outlined a number of local conservation problems, whilst Angela suggested a number of ways that other groups had responded to similar problems. Angela was also treated to a meeting with our local nemesis, a 15-20 knot sou’ easterly, and saw first hand some of the challenges (i.e. SWELL and WAVES) of our local diving conditions. Liz was able to illustrate and explain some of the frustrations we have experienced in the coral monitoring aspect of the project, as 1999’s winter didn’t bring the usual calming westerlys for better diving conditions!

Angela and Liz then went to the monthly meeting of the Project Steering Group, where Angela heard the latest reports and issues regarding the management of the project. The group had only recently submitted their six-monthly progress report for Coasts & Clean Seas, and Angela had briefly reviewed it, with positive remarks.

Angela was impressed with our networking efforts, especially locally, but urged us to network at higher levels. Her message throughout her visit was clearly that we have to ensure that our efforts go straight to higher management levels within the major government portfolios, so that decision-makers at that level are aware of the issues and urgency of on-ground conservation situations.

She also encouraged us to make sure our results get out into the regional and state-level conferences, and suggested a few funding sources to facilitate such extra project officer activity. She appealed to all volunteers to assist with locating the funding sources to enable these activities, so that project outcomes may be broadcast and discussed in as many higher level forums as possible. Overall she was quite happy with how the group is functioning, and how the project work is progressing, and encouraged us to keep up the great effort!

CQU RESEARCH SYMPOSIUM

In August, Project Officers Sue and Liz were invited by Central Queensland University Research Symposium Committee to give the presentation "Science and Our Community - Strategies to Achieve Results. The presentation covered the strategies used by our community group to undertake this fairly sophisticated research and education project about the Woongarra Marine Park. The Symposium is a semi-annual event dedicated to profiling local research that has regional, national, and international importance, across several disciplines.

Sue and Liz developed a slide show on Microsoft Powerpoint to go with our narrative about project aims, activities and the specific strategies we use to achieve meaningful results - such as use of a Project Steering Group, Project Officers, training, form and activity designs and community networking. The presentation was well received, and the whole Research Symposium day was a significant event in our regional calendar for promotion and awareness of the fascinating research on our doorstep. Angela Wardell-Johnson, Senior Project Officer for Coasts & Clean Seas (overseeing our project, see related article this issue) was quite impressed with our involvement in the CQU Research Symposium and encouraged the group to participate in as many regional and national conferences as we could to promote project work results.

JANUARY

If you are interested in an activity, but don't think that you have the training or experience, please do not let that stop you from giving us a call. We can train you in any activity (except getting your dive card).