Eurobodalla Landcare Network
Newsletter Summer 2019

The Australian Marine Debris Database was created to enable volunteers and organisations who were running beach clean up events to also collect data on what they were finding with a consistent methodology so it could be collated into a standardised national database on marine debris.

Since 2004 more than 13 million pieces of data have been inputted into the Australian Marine Debris Database, creating a comprehensive overview of what amounts and types of marine debris are impacting beaches around the country.Their collaborative effort builds the evidence that is being used to create change and stops rubbish at the source.

All that hard work deserved a good feed so it was back to Shelley Beach for a BBQ dinner. Thanks to those that were able to assist on the day and the many Landcarers that regularly clean beaches and other public natural areas for litter x x

Many of you have commented on how late the shearwaters have been this year. The following is an extract from Birdlife Australia:

"Short-tailed Shearwaters are among our most punctual birds. Each spring, their arrival back at their breeding grounds off the southern coast of Australia is usually as regular as clockwork, often arriving on the same date each year, but not this year. When they didn’t turn up at the usual time, seabird watchers grew concerned.

And when they final did turn up, their numbers appeared to be well down on what was expected. Clearly, something has gone very wrong.

What happened?

These long-distance migrants arrive back in Australian waters after flying from their wintering grounds in the North Pacific, and it’s in the North Pacific that their problems appear to have started.

Shearwater migration follows the seasonal blooms of oceanic productivity across the Pacific. They breed on islands in the Southern Ocean during our summer, when there is lots of ‘seafood’ available, and when the seasons change, they head north to spend our winter in the Bering Strait and Chukchi Sea off north-western Alaska, in the northernmost waters of the Pacific Ocean, when krill and other marine food is abundant there.

For the fifth consecutive year, the sea surface temperatures off Alaska have been unusually warm, which has led to a dire shortage of the shearwaters’ marine prey, resulting in thousands of dead shearwaters being washed ashore along Alaska’s beaches. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they died of starvation.

It wasn’t a single event, though; instead it was a series of catastrophic die-offs. Starting in late June, these die-offs continued along different sections of the Alaskan coast, occurring progressively further south, through into August. Numerous shearwaters also washed up on Russia’s Chukotka Peninsula as well. Although many thousands of birds were found dead and dying on the beach, this is likely the tip of the iceberg.

To undertake their long-distance migration, shearwaters must first find enough food to gain enough energy for their long-distance flight, as they don’t feed while they’re on migration.

And that’s the problem. The birds were already starving when it was time to fly south. Of those birds that survived long enough to begin their southward migration, many are likely to have been too weak to cope with any adverse weather they encountered along the way. Many are likely to have died en route. No wonder the numbers of shearwaters arriving here were well down this year.

This episode is the latest in a series of such catastrophes that have afflicted Short-tailed Shearwaters in the last decade or so, when a series of similar wrecks were recorded in Australia; and in 2013, a starvation event off Alaska like the one this year was followed immediately by a similar one here, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of shearwaters.

The Short-tailed Shearwater is Australia’s most common seabirds, but, after so many die-offs, for how long?"

Landcare volunteers fight of ferals

Landcare volunteers joined pest control experts at Moruya’s Riverside Park, learning how to identify, monitor and control introduced species like rabbits, foxes and Indian mynas.

The Landcarers had plenty of opportunity to get hands on experience with some of the tools of the trade; traps specifically tailored for each pest animal, a warren fumigation machine, equipment for preparing and laying baits, and motion-sensing cameras for monitoring fauna. Follow the link below to read more;