The travelling marine biologist down under

Our sister organisation across the other side of the world 

For the past couple of weeks, I have been lucky enough to spend time working with the Australian Marine Conservation Society. During my time here, based on the beautiful Northern beaches in Sydney, I have been working with one of the charity's marine campaigners to build support for a marine park in Sydney - the Hawkesbury Shelf Bioregion.

First up, I visited the office in Sydney and joined their weekly staff meeting via Skype. There are fewer than 20 staff members of AMCS and four members are based here. The rest are dotted around this huge country in Darwin on the north, Cairns on the north east, Melbourne in the south, Perth on the west and Brisbane (or Brissy or Briss-Vegas!) where the head office is situated and I will be visiting in 2017. My first thought was how do AMCS function with staff based over such a huge area? We have similar hurdles but over less geographical distance. The UK fits into one of Australia's seven states and territory's. This doesn't seem to get in the way of communication and what really stood out was the friendly staff and atmosphere during the meeting.

The commute from Manly Wharf is spectacular and a lovely way to spend the early morning and evening.

The iconic Opera House and Harbour Bridge- seen on the commute

Life in Manly is very laid back and has a lovely community and outdoor feeling. Everywhere you look, there is someone surfing, playing volleyball, slack lining, exercising, walking their dog and enjoying some snacks. There is even an early morning swim everyday called 'the bold and the beautiful' (I aim to do this before leaving!) where you have to register for a fetching pink cap and make the return wild swim of about 1km across to one of the only fully protected areas in Sydney called Cabbage Tree Bay or Shelly Beach. A tranquil spot, and underwater aquarium packed full of amazing wildlife right on the doorstep. 

I attended a volunteer thank you event in Manly for 'friends of Cabbage Tree Bay'. Volunteers patrol the area to ensure that regulations are abided by- fishing and removing of marine life are not allowed in this aquatic reserve. There were so many dedicated people, who clearly appreciate and care for the area they live in a great deal- something which can be said of our own lovely volunteers.

Manly beach, looking across to Shelly across the water 

NO to plastic bags, YES to Deposit Return Systems!

Later in the week, I visited Boomerang Alliance - an organisation giving power and influence to a collection of groups all concerned about pollution. It was interesting to talk with them and that conversations are the same, even thousands of miles across the big blue. Like MCS, they see the huge value in Deposit Return Systems and are finally starting to see the benefits with New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia all announcing they will be introduced. I asked their Executive Director what was the tipping point for making this happen? He replied '13 years worth of campaigning and not giving up!' Most states have also banned plastic bags - Queensland has committed to ban the bag in 2018, just leaving NSW, Victoria and WA still to go. Their priorities will continue on these into 2017, along with microplastics which is fast becoming a worldwide plague. 

It's time for a marine park for Sydney! 

Finally, on the weekend before Christmas, I helped with some community campaigning for a Sydney marine park at the south end of Manly beach. We arrived early- it seems that the beach is most active then. We were collecting signatures from the public and business owners which will be presented to members showing that constituients in the local area support the benefits a marine park would bring. We collected 54 public support postcards and 11 businesses pledged their support during the morning. 

Support postcard 

Building support for a marine park in Sydney 

Check back in 2017, as I will be doing another of these events at the well known Bondi beach and visiting staff at the head office in Brisbane - It will be a great opportunity to share knowledge and experiences with everyone and campaigning staff. I will be working with one of their campaigners who leads on litter and plastic pollution to help them re-create materials and to shape messaging to launch a new year 'reduce your waste' campaign. 

Lauren Eyles, MCS Beachwatch Manager

The Manchester giant grouper

The Manchester giant grouper: putting Manchester on the map for the wrong reasons

Dominic A. Andradi-Brown, Clive Hambler, Michelle L. Taylor, Elizabeth Wood

Last week we were greeted with the regrettable news that a grouper, "the third largest fish of its kind on record", an animal that lived out its life around the tropical coral reefs of the Indian Ocean, was flown to a fish market in Manchester, UK. What can be learned - or gained - from its fate?

The grouper was reported to weigh '30 stone' (192 kg) and be over 2 m long (6ft 5in), drawing media coverage in several British newspapers, the BBC and internationally. The market owner was quoted in the Manchester Evening News as saying this was a chance to really 'put Manchester on the map'. As ecologists we understand the excitement of seeing a fish of this size, as did the hundreds of people who visited, curious to see it in the flesh.

[Source: https://twitter.com/directfisherie1/status/808597957318758400]

As conservationists however, we were dismayed at how the story was reported in the media. Revealingly, the capture and transport of this grouper from a deep-water site near the Seychelles to Manchester, thousands of kilometres away, was presented as an impressive feat, with little critical evaluation - except by many of the online commentators on the articles. In an age of supposed interest in 'sustainability' it is remarkable that news outlets typically did not question whether such large predatory fish should be caught for food, or discuss whether flying it into the UK would be creating demand for species not found in UK waters.

We don't know for certain what this fish was (since it was reported variously as giant grouper, brown grouper or goliath grouper). However based on the published photos it's most likely to be the Giant Grouper, Epinephelus lanceolatus, a ‘Vulnerable’ species on the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Fishing is the major threat to this species, and being classified as Vulnerable means it is facing a high risk of extinction - as is more widely appreciated with other Vulnerable species such as Leatherback and Loggerhead Turtles.

[ Source: https://twitter.com/directfisherie1/status/808322703555969024]

There are several reasons why groupers should not be commercially fished for export markets such as the UK and why consumers here should not eat them. They are large predatory fish, and their removal from an ecosystem can have big knock-on effects on many other marine species [1]. The biology of some groupers may also make their populations particularly sensitive to losing large individuals to fishing [2]. Groupers are sequential hermaphrodites, changing sex from female to male as they become larger. We don't know the sex of the 'Manchester grouper', but from its size a guess would be that it was a male and likely to have been decades old. For example, similar sized Goliath Groupers from the Atlantic are estimated to be approximately 37 years old, with projections they can live to be over 50.

The conservation community has been surprisingly slow to condemn the coverage and consumption of this fish - although protest is now building. It may not be too late to expand on the public interest in this unfortunate individual - for the wider benefit of such species. Perhaps the legacy of the 'Manchester grouper' will eventually be to put the city on the map as a turning point in concern for exotic marine species, raising awareness of how to reduce our impacts - and resist temptation for the spectacular.

The Marine Conservation Society Good Fish Guide (printable and pocket-sized) and App suggests sustainable fish to eat, and also, importantly, which fish to avoid. For the reasons outlined above, it rates all grouper species as 'fish to avoid' and places them in the 'least sustainable' category. Brilliantly, this guide also provides a list of alternative, more sustainable choices allowing seafood consumers to easily switch to a similar but more environmentally-friendly option. Whilst we appreciate the Manchester grouper was just one fish, there are other more locally-sourced and more sustainable fish choices available. We hope the media buzz doesn't increase demand for groupers and other exotics in the UK. After all, in the case of Giant Grouper, and contrary to the age-old saying, there aren't plenty more fish in the sea.

References
[1] Dulvy, N.K., Freckleton, R.P. & Polunin, N.V.C., 2004. Coral reef cascades and the indirect effects of predator removal by exploitation. Ecology Letters, 7(5), pp.410–416.
[2] Coleman, F.C., Koenig, C.C. & Collins, L.A., 1996. Reproductive styles of shallow-water groupers (Pisces: Serranidae) in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the consequences of fishing spawning aggregations. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 47(2), pp.129–141.

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