Up to 50 lungfish, some of them up to on metre long, was killed when tonnes of water was released from an Australian dam this week.

The water was released from the North Pine Dam in southeast Queensland between Monday morning and Tuesday night as heavy rains were threatening to overfill the dam.

According to SEQWater, who manages the North Pine Dam, up to 100 native fish went with the release, including roughly a dozen lungfish. SEQWater spokesman Mike Foster said staff were on the scene at every dam release to check for “fish kills” and that they had rescued a handful of lungfish from pools. He also stated that staff would return on Thursday [today] to see if more could be done.

In May, when the North Pine Dam opened its gates for the first time in many years, up to 150 lungfish were rescued.

Roger Currie, spokesman for the Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council, said conservationists on the scene during the most recent water release had found up to 50 lungfish that had been killed or mutilated as a result of the release.

“Some were found caught in trees yesterday and last night,” Currie said. “They’ve just been pummelled by the sheer force of it.”

The Wide Bay Burnett Conservation Council is pushing for a study to find out how large the North Pine Dam lungfish population is, and the council is also calling for measures to protect fish during water releases.

Lungfish of the species Neoceratodus forsteri.
Copyright www.jjphoto.dk

What’s so special about the Australian lungfish?
The Queensland lungfish, Neoceratodus forsteri, is the only now living member of the family Ceratodontidae and order Ceratodontiformes. Also known as Australian lungfish or Barramunda, Neoceratodus forsteri is native only to the Mary and Burnett river systems in south-eastern Queensland. It has however been introduced to several other Australian rivers south of this area during the past century.

Fossil records of the lungfish group date back 380 million years to a period when the higher vertebrate classes were at the starting point of their development. Prehistoric fossils unearthed in New South Wales are almost identical to the now living Qeensland lungfish, indicating that this species hardly has evolved at all during the last 100 million years. Lungfishes flourished during the Devonian period (c. 413-365 million years ago) but only six species of freshwater lungfish remain today; one in Australia, one in South America, and four in Africa.

The Queensland lungfish can survive for several days out of water, but only if kept moist. It can breathe oxygen directly from the air using its lung-like swim bladder. This species is remarkably long-lived compared to most other fish species and will usually attain an age of at least 20-25 years if it manages to survive into adulthood. Granddad, a Queensland lungfish living at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago, is at least 80 years old. He has been housed at the aquarium since 1933 and seen many generations of zoo keepers come and go. The largest

The Snubfin dolphin (Orcaella heinsohni), recognized as a species as recently as 2005, have been spotted while utilizing a rare hunting technique previously only noted in the Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris), a close relative of the Snubfin.

The unusual group hunting technique involves chasing the prey fish to the surface of the ocean and rounding them up by spitting jets of water at them. Once the fish is packed together in a reasonably small “cylinder”, the dolphins move in to devour them.

According to WWF Australia’s marine and coasts manager Lydia Gibson, the behaviour was first noticed in Australia off the Kimberley Coast.

We still know very little about the Snubfin dolphin, which lives along Australia’s northern coast in a number of locations off the Queensland and Northern Territory coasts, as well as the Kimberley region of Western Australia. It is listed as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, chiefly due to habitat destruction. Since Snubfin dolphins live close to shore, they are also more likely to end up in gill nets and drown compared to more pelagic species of dolphin.

Good news from Queensland: Certain reefs in Australia’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park seem to have undergone a remarkable recovery since the devastating Keppel Islands coral bleaching event of 2006.

In 2006, massive and severe coral bleaching occurred around the Keppel Islands due to high sea temperatures. After being bleached, the reefs rapidly became overgrown with a species of seaweed and scientists feared this would be the end of the corals.

Picture is not from Keppel Island. It is another part of the Great barrier reef

Earlier studies have indicated that reefs that do manage to recover from catastrophes like this one need at least a decade or two to bounce back. However, a lucky combination of three previously underestimated ecological mechanisms now seems to have made it possible for the Keppel Islands reefs to make an amazing recovery, with large numbers of corals re-establishing themselves within a single year.

“Three factors were critical,” says Dr Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, from the Centre for Marine Studies at The University of Queensland and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS). “The first was exceptionally high regrowth of fragments of surviving coral tissue. The second was an unusual seasonal dieback in the seaweeds, and the third was the presence of a highly competitive coral species, which was able to outgrow the seaweed.“

Dr Diaz-Pulido also stresses that the astonishing recovery took place in a well-protected marine area where the water quality is at least moderately good.

Surviving tissue, not sexual reproduction

“The exceptional aspect was that corals recovered by rapidly regrowing from surviving tissue,” explains Dr Sophie Dove, also from CoECRS and The University of Queensland. “Recovery of corals is usually thought to depend on sexual reproduction and the settlement and growth of new corals arriving from other reefs. This study demonstrates that for fast-growing coral species asexual reproduction is a vital component of reef resilience.”

Buying time

According to Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, also of the CoECRS and The University of Queensland, understanding the different mechanisms of resilience will be critical for reef management under climate change. “Clearly, we need to urgently deal with the problem of rising carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, but managing reefs to reduce the impact of local factors can buy important time while we do this. Our study suggests that managing local stresses that affect reefs, such as overfishing and declining water quality, can have a big influence on the trajectory of reefs under rapid global change.”

Dr Laurence McCook from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority agrees. “As climate change and other human impacts intensify, we need to do everything we possibly can to protect the resilience of coral reefs. This combination of circumstances provided a lucky escape for the coral reefs in Keppel Islands, but is also a clear warning for the Great Barrier Reef.“

You can find out more about the remarkable recovery in the paper “Doom and boom on a resilient reef: Climate change, algal overgrowth and coral recovery”, published in the journal PLoS ONE, by Guillermo Diaz-Pulido, Laurence J. McCook, Sophie Dove, Ray Berkelmans, George Roff, David I. Kline, Scarla Weeks, Richard D. Evans, David H. Williamson and Ove Hoegh-Guldberg.

Nearly 40 miles (60 km) of beaches along the Australian east coast has been declared a disaster zone due to the massive amounts of oil and chemicals that leaked out from a Hong-Kong registered cargo ship on Wednesday.

According to Queensland state official, the beaches along the Moreton Island[1], Bribie Island[2], and the southern area of the Sunshine Coast[3] have taken the hardest hit and the oil spill is the worst to affect Queensland in decades. You can see an animation showing the sequence of events here: http://www.msq.qld.gov.au/resources/file/eb697a008fb8b4f/Pacific_animation.wmv

The Hong-Kong registered ship, a 185 metre container ship named Pacific Adventurer, was enroute from Newcastle to Indonesia via Brisbane when it got caught in Cyclone Hamish and lost over 30 shipping containers in the heavy seas about seven nautical miles east of Cape Moreton. The falling containers damaged the ship which resulted in heavy fuel oil getting into the water.

As of now, the Environmental Protection Agency, Emergency Services, and local government are working together in an effort to limit the consequences of the spill. Massive cleaning up efforts has been launched and affected animals are being treated by trained wildlife carers. According to Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, the clean-up effort could end up costing millions of dollars.

Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh says that Swire Shipping, the company owning the ship, could end up paying for the clean-up. “We are investigating the entire incident and if there is any basis for a prosecution, we will not hesitate to take that action – the total cost of the clean-up will rest with this company.” If found guilty of environmental breaches, Swire Shipping may also be facing fines of up to AUS $1,500,000 (US$ 977,000).

Initially, reports of the accident contained the number 20-30 tonnes of leaked oil, but the true number has now turned out be ten times this figure – a shocking 230 tonnes of oil. Oil is not only dangerous to wildlife in the short run; it is carcinogenic and can cause long-term effects.

The oil is however not the only problem; the shipping containers from the Pacific Adventurer where filled with ammonium nitrate fertiliser and environmental experts now fear that the nutrients will cause algal blooms and oxygen scarcity in the region. Radar-equipped aircrafts are therefore currently searching for the missing 620 tonnes of chemical fertilizer, in hope of finding as many containers as possible intact.

In a statement from Swire Shipping the company ensures that it and its insurers will meet all their responsibilities.

“The company very much regrets the environmental impact caused as a consequence of the vessel being caught in Cyclone Hamish. The company and its insurers will meet all their responsibilities. It has chartered a helicopter to survey the extent of the oil slick and to try to locate the containers. The company is in contact with Queensland government officials and has offered to provide any information that will help the clean up campaign to be targeted efficiently to minimise beach pollution and environmental impact. The companys oil pollution expert is arriving from the Middle East tonight to assist local authorities and technical experts with the clean up.”

You can find more information about the disaster on Maritime Safety Queensland, a government agency of Queensland Transport:
http://www.msq.qld.gov.au/Home/About_us/Msq_headlines/Headlines_pacific_adventurer

For information about volunteering or reporting sick or injured wildlife, contact the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.qld.gov.au

Statements and information from Swire Shipping can be found here:
http://www.swireshipping.com/web/news.jsp?fid=368

The proposed Coral Sea marine park is now one step closer to becoming a reality – it has gained support from Coral Sea fishermen. According to Bundaberg fisherman Seth Parker, all of the 16 Coral Sea license holders support the proposal and are willing to let the Commonwealth buy back their permits. “They would buy the whole lot out for 25 to 30 million [dollars] and we would leave this pristine area,” Parker says to ABC News.

A conservation group named Bush Heritage Australia will spend $3.5 millions on the purchase and ongoing management of 8100 hectares in Central Queensland. The main reason for the purchase is to safeguard the rare Redfin blue-eye fish.

The property, Edgbaston Station, is connected to a network of more than 50 artesian springs that provides Edgbaston pools with spring water from the Great Artesian Basin. The spring-fed pools are surrounded by arid landscape and the isolation has given numerous endemic species a chance to develop, including several species of fish, snails, plants and a crustacean. The entire known population of Redfin blue-eye resides in five spring-fed pools at Edgbaston. In addition to arid grass lands and spring-fed pools, the property also contains woodlands and wetlands and is an important region for migratory birds. The rare Redfin blue-eye fish is therefore not the only species that will benefit from the purchase.

A substantial part of the money used to finance the acquisition of Edgbaston Station – $1.324 millions – comes from the Australian Government’s “Maintaining Australia’s Biodiversity Hotspots” program­. The two departments “Qld Department of Natural Resources and Water” and “Qld Department for Sustainability, Climate Change and Innovation” have also assisted, together with Bush Heritage Australia volunteers and donors.

Edgbaston Station is located within the traditional country of the Iningai people and Bush Heritage Australia plans to work together with them to understand and protect the cultural values of the property.

“Edgbaston has exceptional biodiversity value and Bush Heritage is proud to own, manage and protect such an important Australian landscape,” says Doug Humann, CEO of Bush Heritage Australia. “This purchase will allow us to closely manage the health of Edgbaston’s incredible artesian springs, which support a variety of life forms unique to the region.”

Bush Heritage Australia currently owns and manages 31 reserves throughout Australia. You can find more information on their site: http://www.bushheritage.org.au.

1 Australian dollar = 0.8 U.S. dollars

Facts about the Red-finned Blue-eye

The Red-finned Blue-eye (Scaturiginichthys vermeilipinnis) lives in spring fed pools in Queensland and the species has only been encountered in a handful of pools. None of the pools are very large and the average water depth is just a few centimetres. The pools are located in a very arid part of Australia and there is hardly any surrounding vegetation that can shadow the shallow water. During the hot season, the air temperature can reach 50 degrees C (122 degrees F) during the day and the water in the pools can become almost as warm as the surrounding air. The Red-finned Blue-eye is however not only capable of handling a high water temperatures; it is also very tolerant to rapid changes in water temperature since the shallow pools where it lives change temperature rapidly as the surrounding air temperature fluctuates. During the cold season, the water temperature can be as cold as 3 degrees C (37 degrees F).

The Red-finned Blue-eye is listed as “Critically Endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

In an earlier post, we wrote about President Bush’s proposal to create the largest protected marine area in the world in the Pacific Ocean.

A group of scientists, environmental groups, and former members of Australia’s navy are now calling for the creation of another reserve that would ban fishing in a whopping 400,000 square mile area off Australia’s northeast coast.

Coral at the Great barrier reef, Australia

It will sure be interesting to see if these two suggestions will become a reality, and if so, which of the protected areas that will ultimately become the largest protected marine area in the world. When discussing protected areas it is also important to keep in mind that the term “protected” can mean very different things.

The proposed protected area off of Australia’s northeast coast is known as the Coral Sea. It is a so called marginal sea, which means that it is a part of an ocean partially enclosed by land, e.g. by archipelagos and peninsulas. The Coral Sea is bordered by the east coast of Queensland to the west, by the Vanuatu archipelago and New Caledonia to the east, and by the Solomon Islands to the north.

The Coral Sea Basin is believed to have been formed between 58 and 48 million years ago when the Queensland continental shelf was lifted up by tectonic forces. The sea is not only famous for its rich biodiversity; it is of cultural significance as well and was for instance the location of a famous battle during World War II.

The effort to create a no-take marine park in the Coral Sea is headed by the Pew Environment Group. You can find more information about the initiative on their site.