Earthcare Annual Report 2023-24 by Kaavya

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 - Ka

Treasurer - R

Membership S

Seastar Remo

Media Manage

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 membership payments predominately credit card based and fixing the renewaldatestotheanniversaryofjoining.Throughcollaborationswith 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, which provides a free platform for file sharing and many other facilities yettobeleveraged ThismovedEarthcareawayfromthelimitationsof a shared personal Google Drive. We also cleaned up our Google listing responsepage.

ACustomerRelationshipManagement(CRM)systemiscurrentlybeing installed which will further integrate the financials, membership renewals, website integration and marketing functions, such as email campaigns. While some aspects of the website have been improved, it still requires a major refresh. This will occur when the CRM is ready for 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

DR 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

PENGUIN VIEWING

DR FLOSSY SPERRING AND LANA AUSTIN

While there has been no public access to the breakwater in 2024, it has been a busy year for penguin viewing. In March this year, we found out that Parks Victoria (PV) had sent a proposal to the Environment Minister. It was unclear exactly what was in the proposal, but we expected that it had something to do with commercialization of penguin viewing, and that Phillip Island Nature Parks (PINP) might be involved.

In July, we found out that the proposal was for PV to enter into direct negotiation with PINP to manage the penguin viewing in the St Kilda colony.

We were invited to the monthly “Visitor Experience Working Group” meetings to discuss the future of penguin viewing. During these, and additional meetings between PINP and the PV commercial team, Lana and Flossy were advised of PINPs plan for the future of penguin viewing, including the cost to members of the public, and the involvement of Earthcare volunteers.

We appealed to PINP to redesign their model. Primarily, we asked that the price to view penguins be substantially reduced and the involvement of Earthcare volunteers be increased. We were unable reach an agreement. As a result, we created our own lowcost penguin viewing model and worked with the PV commercial team to ensure that it was financially sustainable.

We felt strongly that this plan did not reflect the interest of the community, nor was it a suitable viewing experience.

The Earthcare and PINP models were both presented to the Environment Minister. A free option with our proposed viewing arrangement was also presented We expect the Environment Minister to make a decision within the next two weeks.

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 attendance 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.

2023-2024

SOCIAL MEDIA

ZARAH WESSELS

Social Media Strategy

Educate: Increase awareness by sharing information and insights on wildlife protection and sustainable practices.

Entertain: Engage people with enjoyable content that keeps them interested while still delivering the importance of environmental conservation.

Encourage: Motivate people to join environmental initiatives, volunteer, and adopt sustainable practices to foster community action and responsibility.

Primary Activities

Instagram and Facebook posts Newsletters