WELCOME FROM EARTHCARE
Another year has gone by and the Earthcare St Kilda team has a lot to be proud of. We have increased our visibility in the community - our member numbers have increased, our social media engagement has skyrocketed, and NPS removals have taken on a life of their own.
Our bread and butter - penguin guidinghas been on hold as we await the opening of St Kilda pier and the final decision about the future of viewing St Kilda penguin colony from the State Environment Minister. We know - from the hundreds of messages we get every month - that the community is eagerly awaiting the reopening of St Kilda Pier, because they want to see the penguins. Our committee has pushed for a community-led and financially accessible program where everyone can enjoy watching the colony. We hope we can be out on the viewing platform with you really soon.
WE ACKNOWLEDGE THE TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS OF THE LAND ON WHICH EARTHCARE ST KILDA OPERATES, THE YALUK-UT WEELAM CLAN OF THE BOON WURRUNG NATION. THIS LAND WAS NEVER CEDED. WE ACKNOWLEDGE AND UPHOLD THEIR CONTINUING RELATIONSHIP TO THIS LAND AND WATERS.
Here, our annual report provides a snapshot of our work in 2023/2024. It's been an amazing year, not in small part to our incredible volunteers. We look forward to an even bigger and better year to come.
LANA AUSTIN PRESIDENT
EARTHCARE ST KILDA 2023-2024
COMMITTEE
CURRENT MEMBERS 2023-2024
President - Lana Austin
Vice President Flossy Sperring
Secretary -
Treasurer -
Membershi
Seastar Rem
Media Mana
General Committee - Glen Adams
General Committee Jayden Dimitrakopoulos
MEMBERSHIP UPDATE
JOHN WOOLFORD
The Membership at the previous AGM was approximately 44. It was difficult to be accurate because we had a fixed date for renewals, and allowed for periods of grace. We have resolved this by making membershippaymentspredominatelycreditcardbasedandfixingthe renewal dates to the anniversary of joining. Through collaborations with the Treasurer, we have largely automated the renewals process. All members receive an introduction email together with a brochure and the latest newsletter The past years growth in membership has been driven by the success of the NPS and Tree Planting events. The membershipnowstandsat128members(that’s290%growth).
We applied for, and had approved, access to the OnMicrosoft Service, whichprovidesafreeplatformforfilesharingandmanyotherfacilities yet to be leveraged. This moved Earthcare away from the limitations of a shared personal Google Drive. We also cleaned up our Google listingresponsepage.
A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system is currently beinginstalledwhichwillfurtherintegratethefinancials,membership renewals, website integration and marketing functions, such as email campaigns.Whilesomeaspectsofthewebsitehavebeenimproved,it stillrequiresamajorrefresh.ThiswilloccurwhentheCRMisreadyfor integration.
TREASURER’S UPDATE
ROBYN FLYNN
This year, Earthcare St Kilda saw a boost in interest income from our term deposit, alongside a grant and generous donations. Membership subscriptions increased, particularly after events, with Stripe now simplifying payments and encouraging timely renewals. Major expenses supported key initiatives like Northern Pacific Seastar removal, Clean Up Australia Day, and Penguin Monitoring. We also invested in software tools to support our team. Finally, our new charity registration has enhanced our credibility in the community, reinforcing our mission to protect local wildlife and the environment.
EARTHCARE ST KILDA
2023-2024
PENGUIN RESEARCH
FLOSSY SPERRING
Port Phillip Bay fund grant update to developanewmonitoringprogram.
Duetodifficultyaccessingthebreakwater during the 2024 moult period, we were unable to run transects across the breakwater with citizen scientists counting the total number of penguins seen (see last year’s activity report for more detail about these surveys). Transects were run by experts with monitoring experience. The expert surveys ran in 2023 and 2024 differed quite substantially from each other, suggestingthatthismaynotbeasuitable approachforlong-termmonitoring. We have been working with another research group at Monash University, trialling the use of individual call recognitiontohelpmonitorthecolony.
Acoustic recorders were installed in 15 nests and code has been developed to recognisetheuniquecallsofthepenguins that occupy those nests. We will soon be deploying an array of acoustic recorders acrossthebreakwaterandusingindividual call recognition to count the number of uniquepenguinsthatcanbeheard.Atthe same time and in the same area, we will manually count the number of penguins that we can detect These counts will be usedtodeterminetheeffectivenessofthe acousticrecordersandthecallrecognition software. We hope that this will provide the perfect monitoring program for our needs; capable of precisely detecting population trends, minimal disturbance to the penguins and engaging citizen scientists.
EARTHCARE ST KILDA 2023-2024
DeliveredAnotherGradeThreeProgram withStMichael’sPrimarySchool
Over the last 6 months, Flossy, Sharon, Zarah,Chloe,andBellahaveagainworked with St Michael’s to deliver a grade three school program which involves the use of nest cameras Cameras were installed and replaced weekly at the beginning of the breedingseasonandfootagewasprovided to the students. Sharon and Zarah providedoneincursion.Thestudentswere able to view the penguins on the breakwater twice thanks to St Kilda Ferrys.
ReportingPeriod: September4,2023–October142024
EARTHCARE ST KILDA 2023-2024
NORTHERN PACIFIC SEASTAR REMOVAL
RICHARD PENSAK
The summer of 2023/24 brought record-breaking rainfall driven by the La Nina weather patterns. As a result, Northern Pacific Sea Stars aggregated in massive numbers by February of 2024. The Earthcare NPS team responded to these outbreaks every month recruiting 40-100 volunteers to physically remove these pests from the local environment.
By October of this year, Earthcare has proudly conducted 8 NPS removal events removing over 3 tonnes, or 100,000 individuals. These incredible numbers cannot be achieved without the support of our community. Snorkelers, scuba divers, students and ocean lovers alike join forces to get this job done.
Together, we combine the forces of other NGOs and interested parties* to safeguard the biodiversity of Port Phillip Bay against the attack posed by these invasive Sea Stars.
100,000+
individual NPS removed
3 TONNES+ weight of NPS removed
+230% year-on-year increased in weight of NPS removed
40-100 volunteers per event
It is wonderful to see how this important work brings the community together, people of all ages and backgrounds share a responsibility and a passion to care for our environment and the creatures within it.
*Thank you to our collaborators: Sea Life Aquarium, The Department of Earth, Energy and Climate Action (DEECA), Victorian Fisheries Authority, Marine Care Ricketts Point, Kingston City Council, Frankston City Council, The Department of Agriculture, Aquatic Adventures, Port Phillip EcoCentre, Mentone Surf Life Saving Club, Deakin University
EARTHCARE ST KILDA 2023-2024
REVEGETATION
LANA AUSTIN
This year was a great success for all things tree-planting, We co-hosted six successful events on Boonwurrung land in collaboration with Citywide, City of Port Phillip, and Port Phillip Ecocentre.
National Tree Planting Day: Despite challenging weather conditions including rain, hail, and strong winds, we saw remarkable community spirit.
350 total volunteers contributed
6,000 native trees, grasses, and shrubs planted
700 total volunteer hours
~50
average volunteers per event, and lots of dogs in aattendance too!
Key Highlights:
Celebrated the 50th anniversary of planting at Canterbury Road Urban Forest
2 events along Elwood Canal
(between Foam St and Wave St)
2 events at Moran Reserve, Marina Parade, including National Tree
Planting Day
1 event at HR Johnson Reserve
Looking Ahead:
The enthusiasm demonstrated this year indicates a strong community desire for such initiatives. For future events, it would be good to enhance local engagement by targeting advertisements to residents near planting sites, ensuring even greater participation from immediate neighborhoods.
EARTHCARE ST KILDA 2023-2024
SOCIAL MEDIA
ZARAH WESSELS
Primary Activities
Instagram and Facebook posts
Event advertising via Facebook
Quarterly newsletters (Jan, April, July, October)
Recent Activity
Social Media Strategy
Increase the local awareness of what Earthcare do
Build an engaged community of members
Advertise events and opportunities
Encourage new people to join
Facebook Advertisements: Revegetation events advertised, Secretary position advertised
Newsletters: Currently being sent to 356 contacts (combination of members and people who sign up at events):
+35%
Instagram average post likes from 2022 to 2023 (16 vs 22).
+161%
Instagram views on videos (149 vs 389).
+369%
Facebook interactions in the last 3 months.
+78%
Facebook reach in the last 3 months (3.3k).
Future Plans
Expand to LinkedIn, Twitter, Tiktok
Reactivate the Hootsuite account to plan posts
More penguin photos and videos on social media
Create custom banners for Facebook events
Get members to send us their photos and videos (have a QR code to scan at events, email details and link to Google drive)
Create and print out information booklet for non-members
Create a member welcome email and virtual package