1

SDFSANewsletter–JULY2020SCUBADIVERSFEDERATIONOFSA,Inc.Email:info@sdfsa.netWeb:https://sdfsa.netFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/scubadivesa/Joinusforfree!https://sdfsa.net/membership-categories/

Inthismonth’sissue

Photo:CourtesyofGlenGitsham,2020 OURLEADSTORY:CUTTLEFISHALLIANCELAUNCHED...........................................................................2

IMPORTANTNOTICE:ProposedchangestoMarineParks....................................................................3

SDFSACOMMITTEEBUSINESS...............................................................................................................3

SDFSAMARQUEEPHOTOGRAPHCOMPETITIONUPDATE.....................................................................3

CONGRATULATIONSTO:........................................................................................................................3

2020-2021EVENTS...............................................................................................................................4

STEVE’SSCIENCESTORYforthemonth.................................................................................................5

ABOUTTHESDFSA…..............................................................................................................................6

2

OUR LEAD STORY: CUTTLEFISH ALLIANCE LAUNCHED InJune,theScubaDiversFederationofSouthAustralialaunchedtheCuttlefishAllianceinanefforttobringtogetherorganisationsandindividualsconcernedabouttheliftingofthetemporaryfishingrestrictionsontheGiantCuttlefish.We are pleased to announce that we now have an independent Advisory Committee that willprepare a position statement with recommendations to take to the Department of PrimaryIndustries and Regions South Australia (PIRSA), based on science and the value of the GiantCuttlefishmigrationtothetourismeconomyofWhyallaandSouthAustralia.The SDFSA notes thatwe need to recognise the reality ofmultiple stakeholders and users of themarineenvironment.ButasourPresident,AndrewHunter,noted inhis letter to theeditorof theAdelaideSundayMail, thesubstantial (andgrowing)economicbenefit to theWhyalla region fromthisworld-renownedeventmust alsobe considered. Numbersmatter: hundredsof thousandsofmigrating cuttlefish attract tens of thousands of dollars from tourism. Reduce the impact of thespectacleandyoureducetheleveloftourism.TheCuttlefishAllianceAdvisoryCommitteewillhelpusfindapathwaytoagoodsolution,whichwewilltaketotheCuttlefishreferencegroupthatadvisesPIRSA,andtotheMinisterhimself.TheCommitteeconsistsof:

• CarlCharter(oralternate),ExperiencingMarineSanctuaries• Dr.ZoeDoubleday,cephalopodexpert,UniversityofSouthAustralia• TonyBramley,WhyallaDivingServices• AndrewHunter,President,SDFSA.

WhyallaCouncilissupportingtheCommitteewiththeprovisionoftourismandothereconomicdatathatmaybeuseful.Additionalscientificexpertswillalsobeconsultedasweproceed.A Facebook page has been set up to gather and share information, petitions, and campaigns toencourage PIRSA to reconsider restrictions on fishing for Giant Cuttlefish, especially during theperiod of the aggregation and reproduction. So farwe have reached over 16,000 people throughFacebook.Concernsgenerallyaboutthecuttlefishhaveledtostoriesonradio,TVandnewspapers,includinganinterviewwithAndrewHunteronCoastFM.Two petitions are currently underway: an electronic petition that will be sent to the Ministerresponsible for PIRSA,MP TimWhetstone, and a formal petition (with original signatures) to betabled in the SA Parliament byMP Eddie Hughes.We ask everyone to consider supporting bothpetitions. The electronic petition (with over 5600 signatures at the time of writing) is athttps://www.change.org/p/minister-tim-whetstone-protect-whyalla-s-giant-cuttlefish-aggregation.AcopyoftheformalpetitioncanbefoundinmostdiveshopsinSouthAustralia,andeffortswillbemadetoexpandaccesstotheformalpetitioninterstate.Wewillmakeeveryefforttrackallinitiativesonthismatter.Tostayinformed,followTheCuttlefishAllianceonFacebook,athttps://www.facebook.com/pg/cuttlefishalliance/.

3

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Proposed changes to Marine Parks ChangesarebeingproposedtotheSAnetworkofMarineParks:https://www.environment.sa.gov.au/marineparks/About/sa-marine-parks-review.

Stakeholdersandthecommunityareinvitedtoprovidefeedbackonproposedchanges.Tohaveyoursay,visitYourSAy(https://yoursay.sa.gov.au/marine-parks-sa)whereyoucancompleteanonlinesurvey.

Youcanalsosubmitawrittensubmissionbyemailorpostto:SAMarineParksReviewDepartmentforEnvironmentandWaterGPOBox1047AdelaideSA5001

Feedbackiswelcomeuntil5pmFriday10July.

SDFSA COMMITTEE BUSINESS 22nd July:Mark this date in your calendar! It’s time for the SDFSA Annual GeneralMeeting. Themeetingwillbeheldat7pm,UniversityofAdelaide,TheBraggsBuilding,Level2SeminarRoom.InadditiontothereportsfromthePresident,Treasurerandcommitteemembers,theelectionforthe2020-21governing committeewill held, so get yournomination forms in!Adraft 5 year StrategicPlanwillbetabledforreviewandadoption.Formoreinformation(includingmapofthevenue),committeenominationformandacopyofthedraftstrategicplan,goto:https://sdfsa.net/notice-of-annual-general-meeting/.

SDFSA MARQUEE PHOTOGRAPH COMPETITION UPDATE Entriesarenowclosed.Toallofyouwhohavesubmittedphotostoourphotocontest,many,manythanks!Wenowhavedozensof fabulous images to consider. Itwill takeusa coupleofweeks toreviewanddiscusswithourmarqueeprinter,butwewillleteveryoneknowtheoutcomeassoonaswecan.Andagain--thankssomuchforyourparticipation.

CONGRATULATIONS TO: Dr.ScoresbyShepherdAOonhisretirement,forthefinaltime,attheageof85.COVID-19kepthimawayfromtheSARDI/PIRSAofficesforawhile,butthenhospitalizationfollowingaheartattackmayhave influenced Dr. Shepherd’s decision to step down.Wewish him good health for the comingyears.The Marine Life Society of SA on 40 years of continuous SDFSA membership. The Society wasacceptedasamemberoftheFederation(thenAssociation)attheJune1980meeting.Asfaraswecandetermine,thismakestheMLSSAourcurrentlongestmemberclub.GarethMorris for being awarded the downunderpix Underwater Photographer of theMonth forJune.

4

2020 - 2021 EVENTS SouthAustraliaSCIENCEALIVE!November2020.Thisyear’sScienceAlive!ExhibitionattheAdelaideShowgroundsmaytakeplacethisNovember,datesTBC.WORLDFISHERIESCONGRESS-Adelaide--20-24September2021–https://wfc2020.com.au/.Interstate/InternationalNATIONALSCIENCEWEEK2020:15th–23rdAugust2020NationalScienceWeek2020willbeconductedasanonlinesciencefestival.NationalScienceWeekisanannualfestivalofsciencethattakesplaceinAugusteachyear.Theschoolthemeforthisyear’sNational Science Week is “Deep Blue: innovation for the future of our oceans”. Visitwww.scienceweek.net.auformoredetails.MIDE2020-MalaysiaInternationalDiveExpo–4-6December2020-www.mide.com.my.6thInternationalEcoSummitConference-GoldCoast,Queensland–14-18June2021.AustralianMarineSciencesAssociation2021willbeheldinSydneywiththetheme-'MarineScienceintheAnthropocene'.DatesTBC.https://amsa2020.amsa.asn.au/.NewZealandMarineSciencesSocietywillbeheldseparately,datesandvenueTBD.ICRS2021–InternationalCoralReefSymposium18thto23rdJuly2021The14thICRSisbeingheldinBremen,NorthernGermanytheprimaryinternationalconferenceoncoralreefscience,conservationandmanagement,bringingtogetherleadingscientists,earlycareerresearchers, conservationists, ocean experts, policy makers, managers and the public. Visithttps://icrs2021.de/formoredetails.OZTEKCONFERENCE&OZDIVEEXPO2111-12thSeptember2021Next year’sOZTek, theAdvancedDiving Conference& Exhibition,will nowbe combinedwith theOZDive Expo, Melbourne Conference & Exhibition Centre,. Visit https://OZTek.com.au andhttps://OZDive.net.auformoredetails.AIDE2020-AustraliaInternationalDiveExpo-CANCELLED-www.australiadiveexpo.com.

5

STEVE’S SCIENCE STORY for the month BySteveReynoldsThenumberofNectriaseastarspecieshasnowbeenreducedbyone.There were previously six species of the seastar but one of them has now been eliminated.According to the web page found at https://reeflifesurvey.com/breaking-nectria-cases-decrease/,confusionovertheidentificationoftwosimilarseastarshasnowbeenresolvedcourtesyofReefLifeSurvey(RLS)volunteerAndrewGreen.Scientists are now listing five species of Nectria seastars asfollows:-Nectria ocellata, N. macrobrachia, N. saoria, N. wilsoni and N.pedicelligera. The multi-spined sea star, Nectria multispina hasbeeneliminatedfromthelist.Scientists previously had difficulty distinguishing N. multispinafrom N. pedicelligera. When Graham Edgar was revising thesectiononNectriaforhisupdatingof“AustralianMarineLife”toa3rdedition,hiscontactadvised:“Nectria pedicelligera is collected more frequently than N.multispina…. The two species don't show any clear differencebasedonthedataIhaveaccessto(e.g.nocleardemarcationbydepthetc.),butthere'sstillalotwedon't know about these species. The distinguishing characters might easily be some kind ofphenotypicvariabilityrelatedtopredators,waveactivityorsomethingelse.”Green notes that “EdgarwentwithN pedicelligera… and so has RLS.Meaning that if you submitsurvey recordsofNmultispina, theRLS systemwill ‘port’ thedata toNpedicelligera. But he alsocautions that “Somewell-respected authorities (including theWorld Registry ofMarine Species --WoRMS)currentlyrecognisebothspecies.……(But)NewevidencecouldstillariseconfirmingthatNmultispinadoesinfactexistalongsideNpedicelligera!”Photos ofNectria pedicelligera can be found at https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/418059-Nectria-pedicelligera/browse_photos?place_id=6744.ForcommonnamesofNectriaseastarspecies,iNaturalistshowsat listathttps://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/207985-Nectriaasfollows:-Nectriamacrobrachia-Large-platedSeaStarNectriaocellata-SpottedSeaStarNectriasaoria-Saori'sSeaStarNectriapedicelligera–(nocommonname)Nectriamultispina–(nocommonname)–PossiblyshouldactuallybeNectriapedicelligeraNectriawilsoni–(nocommonname)The late Neville Coleman applied the following common

UpdateonReefLifeSurvey’swork:RLShaspostponedtheirLapofAustralia(andthemajorityoftheirfield-basedactivities)until2021.BeforeCOVID-19interruptedtheirLapofAustraliafieldplans,RLSmanagedtocomplete705surveysacross231Australiansites.Furtherdetailscanbefoundathttps://reeflifesurvey.com/lap-of-aus-tracking/.)

6

namesforNectriaspecies:-N.occellata-OcellateseastarN.wilsoni-Wilson'sseastarN.macrobranchia-Large-armedseastarN.saoria-SaoriseastarThere is still no knownname forNectria pedicelligera, soweneed to either stick to the scientificnames or come up with a common name like Neville Coleman would. Does anyone knowpedicelligerameans?

ABOUT THE SDFSA… SCUBADIVERSFEDERATIONOFSAInc.POBox287,ChristiesBeachSA5165Email:info@sdfsa.netDisclaimerTheopinionsexpressedbyauthorsofmaterialinthisnewsletterarenotnecessarilythoseoftheFederation

SDFSAisanon-profit,incorporatedmembershipassociationdedicatedtothepreservationandenjoymentofouruniqueunderwaterworld.

JOINUSFORFREE:

https://sdfsa.net/membership-categories/

The more members we have, the stronger our influence. We serve as a peak bodyrepresenting the interests of South Australian recreational scuba divers and the relatedsports of freediving and snorkelling, including theprovision of information to governmentandthegeneralpublic.

Together we can have real impact on the issues affecting the South Australian divingcommunity.

IfyouwishtobeaddedtothemailinglistforthisNewsletter,jointheSDFSA!

You can also read about the Federation’s work in monthly issues of DiveLog Australasia,ScubadiverANZandonourwebsiteathttps://sdfsa.net.StayuptodatewiththelatestnewsthroughourFacebookpage,https://www.facebook.com/scubadivesa/.