NEWS DESK
Creek gets health check RETIRED science teacher John Inchley is heading a team alerted the shire health officers who undertook to do further tests,” Mr Inchley said. of voluntary researchers monitoring the health of BalToday all is well with the creek. combe Creek which enters Port Phillip at Mt Martha. At the Uralla St bridge checkpoint invasive, white-flowMr Inchley is the driving force in BERG Mt Martha’s Waterwatch group, which has recently brought high E-coli ering South African water plants were found, but were not seen as a problem. levels, invasive plants and phosphorous contamination to The group’s final readings at The Briars Visitor Centre the attention of health officers. showed high phosphorus levels, probably caused by rain The creek starts as a trickle near Baxter and meanders runoff from farms into the creek further upstream. Mr Inch20 kilometres through farmland, parks and near residenley said the results will be checked to make sure it is not a tial areas before flowing through The Briars wetlands and continuing problem. wildlife sanctuary into Balcombe Estuary and eventually The team’s readings are passed on to Melbourne Water. into the bay. In a case of the Waterwatchers being watched, the water Mr Inchley and his assistants, retirees John Rawlins authority is about to examine Waterwatch members to enand his wife Roo, are passionate about the environment sure their methods of testing are satisfactory. and happy to keep an eye on what's happening in our waterways. A couple of months ago the trio noticed a rotten egg smell at the first of three checkpoints in Augusta St, Mt Martha. Still waters: Members of BERG Mt Martha are monitoring the “We discovered that E.coli levels were up, which may health of Balcombe Creek. Picture: Keith Platt have been caused by a sewage or septic tank leak. We
Bay ‘rescue’ is Killers return to seals’ island home fuel for rivalry Stephen Taylor steve@baysidenews.com.au VICTORIAN Marine Rescue Mornington president Tim Warner returned from a six-week holiday last weekend just in time for an emergency callout in the bay off Safety Beach. His crew quickly set out for an area 100 metres off the marina – only to find they were “rescuing” the Safety Beach Coast Guard boat, which had run out of fuel. Now, anyone with an insight into the rivalry between two of the state’s peak marine rescue bodies will understand the sensitivity of that situation. “Yes it was a rather unusual call,” Mr Warner said, stifling a grin. “We have a rather interesting relationship but it was all handled with good grace. “When we realised who they were we just treated it as a training run.” Coast Guard commodore Mark Brookes said the incident was “not a rescue”. “We’d had a motor change-over and the fuel gauges had not been calibrated correctly, so they showed we were full when we weren’t,” he said. “These things happen from time to time.” The two groups had scheduled a get together on Sunday afternoon to socialise and discuss the coming season’s activities.
Mr Warner said the VMR was the busiest rescue service in the state, with two boats on Port Phillip and one on Western Port all year. “We perform 235 police-activated rescues a year,” he said. “And if you take out the quiet times – such as midwinter – we can be out on the bays six or seven times a weekend.” Often VMR crews are called to rescue sick seals or penguins. “People look up marine rescue and our number comes up,” Mr Warner said. “One weekend over summer we had two calls for sick seals at Mt Eliza and Sorrento.” Mr Warner said boat users, or their worried families, should call 0419 233 999 as soon as they fear for their own or someone else’s safety. “If dad says he’s going fishing and will be back at 4pm, people should call us straight away if they don’t hear from him so we can start the search immediately,” he said. “We would prefer to start an emergency search at 4pm rather than the family waiting until 9pm to call us and then having to start searching in the wet and cold. “We don’t mind if we find dad happily fishing. We treat false alarms as good training.” Mr Warner has served the VMR for 37 years, including three terms as president.
A POD of killer whales has caused excitement among wildlife watchers off Flinders and Phillip, although its arrival is probably not so welcome by the inhabitants of Seal Rocks. Known as the ocean’s apex predator, the killer whales, or orcas, were first seen by tour operator Wildlife Coast Cruises about 11am on 4 July. The Dolphin Research Institute’s David Donnelly said the news quickly spread with “eager whale watchers converging on the location, but you had to be quick as the pod was clearly on a mission”. “Shortly after arriving the killer whales quickly went about investigating the local Australian fur seal colony. It wasn’t long before onlookers were treated to the sight of the apex predators throwing prey - likely to be a seal - into the air, tail slapping and breaching.” Mr Donnelly said a photo taken by Robyn Raven of Phillip Island confirmed that one of the killer whales was “a very well-known individual affectionately known as Split Fin”. “Split Fin has been known to the east Australian photo identification catalogue since 2003,” he said. “Her very distinctive dorsal fin makes Split Fin easily recognisable at sea. The fin has a large vertical split through the centre, causing it to flop to the left. The cause of the disfiguration is believed to be from an interaction with a boat propeller.” Mr Donnelly said the killer whales moved off to the west about an hour later, “passing two humpback whales on the way”. Photographer Matt Burgess reported seeing the same killer whales
Univited visitors: Members of a pod of killer whales patrolling off Seal Rocks are known to regular whale watchers. Picture: Robyn Raven. Left, seals are wary of entering familiar while the killers are about. Picture: Keith Platt
near West Head, Flinders. “You never know what the ocean will serve up. One minute I was shooting waves, the next 10-15 killer whales swam past,” he said. “I’ve never seen one before, it was amazing.” The pod was last seen swimming through the Mushroom Reef marine sanctuary toward Cape Schanck.
Mr Donnelly said the same pod of killer whales was identified near Phillip Island on 27 December 2015. “Killer whales are technically not whales, they are in fact the largest species of dolphin. They can be found in all of the world’s oceans from the equator to the polar ice caps.” Details: Facebook Killer Whales Australia
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Frankston Times
11 July 2016
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