Watch Your Step!

It only takes a little common sense for most of us to be mindful of the impact we can have on our environment. Unfortunately, that sense is becoming less common as individual entitlement grows. As John Willis found out.

It seems a great place to play - or is it?

I was recently having a lovely little time by myself, casting a lure from one of the beautiful little sand banks in my local south coast NSW estuary. It was a bit breezy, but I seem to have a better success rate on the local flathead, bream and whiting when there’s some surface ripple disguising their movements in the shallows and stirring up much of their benthic food source. I was in search of a feed, perhaps just one or two delicious mid-sized dusky’s for the table, leaving minimal environmental impact from my sedate meanderings.

There were graceful swans feeding on the abundance of seagrass, enchanting sea eagles soaring the thermals while swallows wind-surfed the dunes. Noisy gulls, black cockatoos and plovers filled the air with their shrill cries. Oyster catchers searched the stones plus kingfishers, ospreys, curlew and terns. Parrots, honeyeaters, and wattlebirds foraged the lakeside banksias and a magnificent pure white goshawk swooped the local homing pigeon population.

Red necked stints are the smallest of the migrating birds.

Sea eagles are magnificent predators on the intertidal zone.

My birdy nut partner Ali often identifies some of the world travellers that fly immense distances to visit our beaches, particularly around the river and lake entrances. These sensitive areas also attract plenty of seasonal human interaction with all sorts of water sports. Jet skis, wind and kite surfers–some with hydrofoils, SUP’s, kayaks, boats and all manner of beachgoers all share this sensitive intertidal zone.

Many holiday makers travel long distances for their own experience in paradise, and the same is true for many of the migrating birds. Red-necked stints are the smallest of the migrating birds. They often described these tiny little cuties as small enough to fit into a wineglass and yet many will fly a distance equivalent between the earth and the moon in their limited lifetimes. Eastern curlew, bar-tailed godwits, sanderlings and red knots all travel from their breeding grounds in the Arctic Circle and Siberia to roost on our popular shoreline.

Pelicans are an intricate part of our intertidal community.

Bar-tailed godwits are one of many species that travel from their breeding grounds in the Arctic Circle and Siberia to roost on our popular shoreline.

Australian Pied Oystercatchers often feed on bivalve molluscs, worms, crustaceans and insects. Food is found either by probing the mud with their long bill, or by foraging by sight.

A recently hatched sooty tern makes a terrific meal for predators such as feral cats, foxes, seagulls and birds of prey.

The endangered hooded plovers’ nest in simple scratching’s above the high tide mark on our sandy beaches mostly preferring to keep clear of the added predators that lurk in coastal vegetation such as snakes, lizards and feral foxes and cats.

Hooded plovers are highly selective of their nesting habits, with each pair claiming a distinct territory amongst small groups of birds. The eggs are mostly laid 2-3 at a time and are covered by a thin layer of sand for protection. The proud would-be parents stand by in feeble efforts to protect their eggs for a 28 day incubation period and then have all manner of strife to contend with, especially for the 35 days until the hatchlings can fly from terrestrial dangers.

As if life wasn’t difficult enough for these intrepid feathered friends, it’s made worse by the fact they often share ocean beaches with people with no idea of their environment and some who simply don’t care!

So imagine my frustration when a noisy jet ski arrived on the scene carrying dad, three kids and a German shepherd (illegally) and after doing the prescribed amount of speedy do-nuts in the 5 knot zone where I was fishing, they beached the craft on the sand flat and proceeded over the well-known rookery en route to the beach. Their initial trek across the dune was quite direct with minimal impact skirting the nesting zone. However, on return, the kids all followed the dog throughout the rookery as it actively chased every nesting bird in the zone. The disturbance not only destroyed many nests but laid bare many others, leaving them open and unattended for a free feed for all other predators. So much for the majority of that year’s endangered reproduction.

It’s a tough life for the endangered hooded plover.

The “hoodies” forage the intertidal zone for a feed, but it’s a tough place to raise your young.

I tried to approach the situation delicately, although I needed to shout in the breeze. I guess when I shout it may seem aggressive? (to give the non-required benefit of the doubt) The smallminded buffoon went into an absolute tirade of abuse, throwing insults, “F’s and C’s” at me in a disgusting display in front of his poor kids. “I’ve been here for 40 fu@#ing years and I’ll do what I fu#$ing want ya fat c#$t!” Ahh well, I thought, you can waste your whole life arguing with a sick mind. But in the end you won’t cure it!

They nest in simple scratching’s above the high tide mark on our sandy beaches mostly preferring to keep clear of the added predators that lurk in coastal vegetation.

Looks like great fun, but the nesting birds on the shoreline don’t think so.

It looks like a deserted sandbar to most, but it’s home to some endangered species.

Crested terns offering a freshy caught meal to a youngster.

It would absolutely infuriate us anglers should someone cast a net across a spawning fish migration and yet many simply turn a blind eye or are ignorant of the harm we can unwittingly inflict to other fauna.

The local Landcare group, amongst many others, including the local council, are doing a mighty job in attempts to protect and re-instate our shoreline environment, which in turn adds to the health of the entire marine ecosystem. They plant indigenous trees and shrubs, maintain access tracks to minimise human impact, encourage habitats and eradicate invasive species, to name a few.

We anglers would be absolutely infuriated should someone cast a net across a spawning fish migration

Foreshore and environmental management is a difficult task with encroaching populations in sensitive areas. Many simply aren’t aware of changing regulations and recommendations. We had some local conflict recently when our neighbours who have holidayed here for some 60 years saw no harm in sourcing fallen timber from the lakeside reserve to fuel a friendly family bonfire, just as they had always done. They simply had no idea that such practice was no longer acceptable, and the Landcare group deliberately maintained that fallen timber to encourage natural habitat and in turn attempt to help balance human impact that runs at a peak during holiday times.

We really miss not being able to exercise our own dogs in these sensitive coastal areas just as we always did, but there are plenty of unleashed zones close at hand that require only a little more thought and dedication.

To the contrary, I have another neighbour who wants to cut down every tree in the vicinity because the leaves mess up his immaculate lawn, and others that lived through the fear of the recent bushfires that believe that the fuel load on the foreshore reserve should be reduced for public safety.

One thing is for sure, opinions are like arseholes — everyone’s got one! However, no matter where you travel for your aquatic pleasure in the intertidal zone, it is certainly worth respecting the local environment, its regulations, and all that live or visit there, including our precious flora and fauna. It doesn’t take much to do the right thing!

As if life wasn’t difficult enough for these intrepid feathered friends, it’s made worse by the fact that they often share ocean beaches with people who have no idea of their environment, and some who simply don’t care!