Category Archives: Marine Education

Have Tank will Travel

Usually our sea animals bask in the 5 star luxury of their home tanks on the Sunshine Coast, where everything is carefully monitored to create an optimum environment, but when they hit the road to educate our next generation of ocean lovers, things get a little more tricky.

Our touch tanks are a home away from home for our animal ambassadors and we work hard to ensure things are as stress free as possible while they play a vital role in helping children understand and appreciate the aquatic world.

They travel all over Brisbane and the rest of South East Queensland, visiting early learning centres, schools and shopping centres, giving youngsters the opportunity to get up close and personal with these exotic creatures.

Under careful supervision, children are able to gently interact with our sea stars, sea cucumbers and spiny urchins, using our one finger touch policy that ensures our animals remain relatively undisturbed while cocooned in their cases.

To protect both animal and young enthusiast, our baby sharks are carefully contained in see through containers which allow for thorough inspection without causing damage.

Likewise, the colourful tropical sea cucumbers have such delicate feeding tentacles, they need to be kept clear of probing fingers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9VrClr6maY

But the fresh water turtles are only too willing to subject themselves to some soothing shell massage, all in the name of fostering a greater human/animal relationship.

We limit the amount of time our animal ambassadors spend away from their homes, rotating our starfish, cucumbers, urchins, sharks and turtles to make sure they are well rested and fed before embarking on their next mission to help save the oceans.

 

Going International

27654597_329491477543568_5883821825959801009_nLanguage proved no barrier for a group of International students meeting our animal ambassadors for the first time.

The children from China and Japan were on a study aboard program hosted by John Paul International College in Brisbane.

While a translator was on hand for some of the more complex explanations, the students needed no help bonding with the sea stars, sea cucumbers and spiny sea urchins.

Having the unique opportunity to gently touch animals they have never encountered before enhanced the learning experience for the students, who will spend up to 10 weeks studying in Australia.

The Shark jaws were a big hit with the kids who were fascinated to find out these predatory fish are far more complex than the killing machines they are unfairly portrayed as in the news.

But hands down the favourite of the visits was Rainbow the freshwater turtle who handled all the excited shrieks and adulation in her usual calm manner… and just maybe replacing the koala as the favourite Aussie animal!

 

It’s Christmas Everyday Underwater

xmas-tree-worm-8It appears that nature outdoes us when it comes to festive displays.  Coral reefs showcase their decorations all year round in a vibrant celebration of Christmas…or more particularly, the Christmas Tree Worm.

These colourful creatures (Spirobranchus Giganteus to the scientifically minded!) are found in tropical waters all around the world.  They catch their microscopic prey in spiky bristles, which are coated in sticky mucus for added mealtime security.

But what you see isn’t all you get with these segmented worms – only the crown is visible – 2/3 of their body lies hidden within the coral.

And while it’s obvious camouflage is not one of their skills, they have the ability to retreat very quickly into their hole if danger lurks close by.

At Ocean Life Education we love everything “Weird and Wonderful” – especially when it comes to marine creatures.   The crazier looking, the more colourful the display – we’re hooked.

In fact we enjoy it so much we dedicated an entire program to all things that little bit different underwater.

Want to know how a mudskipper breathes out of water?  Why a stone fish has a face only a mother could love?  How a nudibranch gets its technicolour coat? Why a northern stargazer always looks up?

We have the answers and we love sharing our passion for all things quirky in the sea. And we’re constantly learning as well.  Only 1/3 of the estimated one million creatures living in our oceans have been identified – so just like our colourful Christmas Tree Worm –  much remains hidden, waiting to be discovered.

Monitoring marine debris

20170321 katie

Marine Debris event at Sealife Mooloolaba

By Katie-Anne

During my time as a Marine Education Officer I have been invited to many open conversations, workshops and conferences, so when I was invited to attend a night of conversation around marine debris at Sealife Mooloolaba, I thought it was a great networking and information sharing opportunity. What I wasn’t expecting, was that the night would cause a shift in my understanding of the importance of data collection and the sway that citizen science can have.

The night was organised by the Sunshine Coast Council and included guest speakers from Targaroa Blue, Sealife Mooloolaba, Coolum and North Shore Coastare, Reefcheck Australia and the SCRC Turtlecare program. These stakeholders have a volunteer or not-for-profit element to their conservation work and as such the passion exuded by each speaker was all encompassing.

One statement said it all.

Naomi Edwards from Tangaroa Blue foundation opened with a statement:

“If cleaning the beach is all we do, it is all we will ever do.”

A very bold statement which had everyone sitting up and listening with open ears. What Naomi meant was that collecting debris is an amazing opportunity to identify what is washing up, where it comes from and how it entered the marine environment.

Citizen science creating real change

Through this train of thought the Australia Marine Debris Initiative (AMDI) was born. The organisation has a global database in which volunteers, community groups and organisations can input data based on the size, material and type of item collected from the beaches and river clean ups. This means me, you and the little old lady down the road can contribute to the collection of scientific data.

Tangaroa Blue then uses this data to work with Industry and government organisations to create change on a large scale. Once upon a time this type of citizen science was dismissed as ‘not scientific’, however, it appears this broad quantitative science is gaining more traction within the scientific and government communities. The exciting thing that I discovered was that local government authorities are willing to see this as a feasible data collection means for identifying possible trends within the environmental systems.

But how is the raw data used to do this? Well, I thought the same thing until I discovered that the data can be viewed by anyone and can be collated to create reports on the website and can be (including a variety of graphs…..everyone loves a good graph) tailored for specific beaches or communities. This opens the opportunity for the identification of trends and problematic pollutants within this locality and to identify where the most common types of pollutants have originated from. Once specific pollutants or trends have been identified, this data can be used as a basis for change in the form of prevention by a strategic approach within the local community.

It is this type of focused solution planning, or pollutant focused planning, that the Sunshine Coast Council is showing an interest in. An example of the positive use of this data is with the implementation of a ban on the release of balloons at council events and in council-managed reserves by the Eurobodalla Shire Council. This was the direct result of collation of data relating to balloons found on the local beaches and the education on balloon impacts on the marine environment that was given by the local environmental officers.

Community action is important for scientific data

This is the key shift in thinking from simply cleaning the beach (which I do not want to underestimate the importance!) to using this necessary and vital community action as an opportunity for data collection and potentially as a platform for societal change. Essentially this database and others like it are enabling members of the community access to relevant data to drive changes from a community based ground roots level.

More information

For more information about Tangaroa Blue, the Australian Marine Debris Initiative or upcoming clean up events, visit www.tangaroablue.org.

Other organisations mentioned:

Sunshine Coast Council TurtleCare program

Sealife Mooloolaba

Coolum and North Shore Coastare

Reefcheck Australia