Leafy Seadragon. Graphic by Sue Stranger (Untamed Art)
Contents
Seahorses
and kin get a better deal
Marine Protected
Areas
How far do
leafy seadragons move?
Syngnathid
export proposals for comment
Updates from
the SA Museum - Horse with tail of seaweed
More about
Leafy Seadragons
Dragon Search
Tasmania
Dragon Search
Victoria
Making Waves
- get with the program
New Survey
Form
Reef Watch
Monitoring Kit Trials
The Secret
Life of Seahorses
Project Seahorse
Beachcombing
How can you
help?
In September Environment Minister Robert Hill announced that the Federal Government will introduce important export restriction measures on some of Australia’s unique syngnathid fish; the seahorses, seadragons and pipefish.
Leafy Seadragon. Graphic by Sue Stranger (Untamed Art)
For several years a number of national and international organisations have campaigned for the protection of Syngnathids under the Commonwealth Wildlife Protection Act by removing them from Schedule 4. Wildlife on this schedule, which includes marine fish, are basically exempt from export restrictions. Removing them from the schedule will actually increase protection by placing an obligation for assessments and monitoring of the export trade.
Conservation groups have viewed this as an extremely timely and enlightened initiative.
There is clear evidence to suggest that the habitat’s on which seahorse and related species depend are in decline and further pressures are being placed on the species through the collection for the trade in Asian medicines and aquaria.
Australia is unusual among seahorse-rich nations, both because it has the legislative and legal ability to control the trade of seahorses properly and because few or no people currently depend on the trade. Thus Australia offers a potential buffer against the potential disappearance of seahorse populations and species. Australia has prime responsibility for the conservation of seahorses because about one third of the world’s known seahorse species occur in its waters.
Leading global seahorse expert, Dr Amanda Vincent, has stated there is a need to develop strong precautionary legislative frameworks for seahorses and other syngnathid at the state and federal levels. The growing gap between demand and supply in nearby Asian nations makes it inevitable that Australian syngnathids will come under increasing pressure.
Hopefully this leading initiative will also encourage the state fisheries agencies to initiate stronger protection measures and facilitate monitoring, documentation and further research.
With the growing international and local interest in
Australia’s unique marine environment and the rapid developing dive
tourism industry, dive operators and conservationists know that these fish
can be worth more to the local regional economies if left in their natural
habitat than if exported as wild caught stock for the aquarium or medicine
trade.
Seahorses cannot be conserved unless governments monitor the catch and assess its ecological impacts. Currently only Tasmania regulates the number of seahorses that can be taken from its waters. No other state governments appear to regulate catch. In relation to proposed seahorse aquaculture ventures, this legislation will not stop such developments. It will be however a means to assess their environmental sustainability and determine whether they are dependant on potentially threatened wild-caught brood stock.
Tony Flaherty,
Marine and Coastal Community Network (SA)/Dragon Search
(SA)
Federal Environment Minister Robert Hill has called on Australian States and territories to place a higher priority on implementing a national system of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The Commonwealth is developing an action strategy to identify priority areas for management as multiple-use marine protected areas.
Senator Hill’s call is certainly important for South Australia, which
currently has a relatively poor record of protecting marine areas for
biological diversity. Studies by the Aquatic Sciences Branch of the
South Australian Research and
Development Institute have identified further areas for possible declaration
as MPAs and it is hoped that projects like Reef Watch [and Dragon Search
ed] will be able to contribute to and compliment this process.
Extracted with permission from the Reef Watch Project’s
Newsletter,
Reef Watcher Iss. 1, No. 3.
How far do leafy seadragons move?
Leafy seadragons seem to be weak swimmers, and they certainly don’t look as if they would swim very far. But how far might they go in a week, in a year, or a lifetime? Managing human use of fisheries resources always relies on knowing something about movement of individual fish, but information about movement of leafy seadragons is still sorely lacking. The only data collected so far are from the first year of diving in our scientific study of their ecology, done in conjunction with SARDI. We measured movement by comparing the position of seadragons each time they were sighted. For this type of work, individual fish must be able to be identified. Fortunately, we do this using their facial patterns. Results of the study so far can be summarised as follows: 1. Some seadragons were re-sighted several times during the 12 month period, often within metres of the initial sighting location. 2. Although something of a home range seems likely, at times seadragons could not be found anywhere in the dive area. 3. The most important step is to track movement using a more efficient method than underwater searching.
As all divers know, the highly successful camouflage with which leafy seadragons gain protection from predators also makes finding them underwater very tricky. This difficulty in detecting the dragons, in combination with poor visibility in some locations, severely limits the usefulness of measuring movement by sighting and re-sighting fish. This summer we will trial what we think will be a much more efficient method of gaining information about movements. We will carefully be attaching miniature ultrasonic tracking devices and following the fish around for short periods. If the trials are successful, we will try to work out how far dragons move over longer periods.
Dr Rod Connolly, Griffith University
Phone: +61 7 5594 8614, Facsimile: +61 7 5594 8067
Syngnathid export proposals for comment
As mentioned earlier Senator the Hon. Robert Hill recently declared the removal of syngnathids (seahorses, seadragons and pipefish) from Schedule 4 of the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982 effective from 1 January 1998. Species listed on Schedule 4 are not subject to export controls under the Act.
Where it is proposed to export syngnathids (this includes live animals and products derived from syngnathids), the grant of an export permit from Environment Australia will be required from that date. Permits will only be granted for captive bred specimens or specimens which have been taken from the wild under an appropriate management regime. The Minister’s decision is a precautionary measure enabling the regulation and monitoring of export and syngnathid specimens.
Comments are sought for operations which have proposed harvesting of a range of syngnathid species, including the big bellied seahorse (Hippocampus abdominalis) in Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia.
For copies of export proposals and for further enquiries regarding this
matter, please contact Astrida Mednis of the Wildlife Assessment
Section of Environment Australia, (ph) +61 2 62500751 or (fax) +61 2 62500243.
Updates from the SA Museum - Horse with tail of seaweed
Terry Sim, from the SA Museum, recently explained the scientific name of the Leafy Seadragon, Phycodurus eques, to me. His explanation went something like this: “Phyco” comes from "Phyko” which is (Latin?) for seaweed. “Urus” comes from “Oura" which means tail. “Eques” comes from either “Equus” meaning horse or “Equestris” meaning horseman. So Phycodurus eques means something like “ a horse with a seaweed tail” which seems appropriate for the Leafy Seadragon. Thanks again for this bit of information Terry.
Steve Reynolds, Marine Life Society of SA
Extracted with permission from the
MLSSA Newsletter , No. 236.
In the November 1979 issue of the MARIA Journal (Vol. 1, No. 2) Paul Oaklands wrote an article titled “The South Australian Leafy Seadragon”. In that article Paul said that there was an “other seadragon species in the Phycodurus genus”. He said that this species was Phycodurus eques glaverti which “is often referred to as Glavert’s Sea-Dragon”. This comment has had me puzzled and intrigued for the past 18 years. Paul said that “as with the Leafy Sea-Dragon, the Glavert's Dragon has his body and trunk enveloped in leafy appendages, but there are no filaments to the snout or lower jaw. There are no spines above the eyes nor on the tail-section associated with the dorsal fin. It is generally a reddy brown with no transverse white facial stripes.” I repeated these comments in my article "The Leafy Sea-Dragon Phycodurus eques “ in our MLSSA Journal No. 2 (August 1991) . When I recently referred to “Fishes of Australia’s South Coast” I found that Phycodurus glauerti (not glaverti) was given as a pseudonym for the Leafy Seadragon. In 1939 G. Whitley called a variation of the Leafy Seadragon Glauert’s sea-dragon, Phycodurus glauerti. It seems that Whitley’s P. Glauerti came from Rottnest Island, WA (according to ”Indo-Pacific Pipefishes” by C.E. Dawson). Terry Sim at the SA Museum tells me that ichthyologists (fish researchers) have now decided that there is only one species of Phycodurus and that is the Leafy. Again many thanks to Terry in his assistance in this matter.
Steve Reynolds, Marine Life Society of SA,
Extracted with permission from the
MLSSA Newsletter , No. 238.
Dragon Search (Tasmania) was launched by the Tasmanian Marine Naturalists
and the Marine & Coastal Community Network at the recent Sea Festival
at Eaglehawk Neck. Among the participants were some of the most well
known marine scientists in Tasmania who have already shown support for
the project. The focus of the project in Tasmania will be populations
of Weedy Seadragon with the possibility of sighting Leafy Seadragons along
the North Coast and on some of the Bass Strait Islands not ruled out. Dragon
Search is up and running in Tasmania because of the support of a Fishcare
Grant and community organisations throughout Tasmania and South Australia.
Congratulations to Gary Myors who has been employed as Project Officer.
Contact Gary to find out more and to get involved on +61 3 6265 2251 at
PO Box 235, SORELL, Tasmania 7172.
Just a reminder that Dragon Search has also been established in Victoria
by the staff and volunteers at the Marine and Freshwater Resource Institute
in Queenscliff. The project is coordinated by the institute’s marine Discovery
Centre. For more information please contact the Dragon Search Coordinator,
Marine Discovery Centre Volunteers on +61 3 5258 3344 at PO Box 114, QUEENSCLIFF,
Victoria 3225.
Making Waves - get with the program
The Marine and Coastal Community Network (SA) and the Threatened Species
Network (SA) have begun Making Waves, a 3D-Radio Marine and Coastal
Show. So far the show has covered issues including: recreational
fishing, the newly formed Australian Marine Conservation Society (Adelaide
branch), Reef Watch, World Animal and National Threatened Species Days,
marine litter, the SA Marine & Estuarine Strategy, Aquaculture and
much much more. Making Waves is supported by the Fishcare
Program and 3D-Radio’s Environment Show. You can tune in to Making
Waves Tuesday’s fortnightly from 8.30 - 9pm at 93.7 FM. Even
more importantly we would love to hear from anyone who has an issue, current
news item, event or group that they would like broadcasted on the program.
For more information please contact Tony Flaherty (MCCN-SA) on +61 8 8302
6568 or Vicki-Jo Russell (TSN-SA) on +61 8 8223 5155.
Dragon Search has drafted a modified Dragon Search Survey Form.
The new form highlights which information is essential to the project and
has attempted to clarify categories. The form will be appraised by
members of the Dragon Search Advisory Committee and will then be distributed
to Dragon Search participants. In the meantime we encourage you to
continue to use the current form.
Reef Watch Monitoring Kit Trials
The community-based reef monitoring project, Reef Watch, is moving ahead in leaps and bounds. The Reef Watch monitoring Kit has been developed and is currently being trailed by divers. The point of the trials are too assess the practicality of the kit design and materials as well as the method of monitoring.
Over the coming months, and beginning in November, Reef Watch is hoping to show the kit to as many divers as possible. The Project Officer is happy to spend evenings or perhaps a day on a weekend working through the program and kit with each club. For divers who are not members of clubs there will be training evenings at the Conservation Centre, 120 Wakefield Street. These will be followed by practical dives the following weekend. Where possible Reef Watch will try to secure some guest speakers - particularly those marine scientists who have supported the Reef Watch project and provided advice on the method for monitoring. The dates for the next two evenings are 26 November and 19 December. Please note that spaces will be limited to 20 people per training session.
For more information and to register your interest please contact Jon
Emmett, Reef Watch Project Officer on +61 8 8223 5155.
Look out for a David Attenborough documentary entitled ‘The Secret Life
of Seahorses’, coming soon to ABC TV. It details Amanda Vincent’s
research on seahorse biology and the Asian trade and looks in depth at
a pilot project in the Philippines aiming to wean fishers off exploiting
seahorses.
Project Seahorse is a global, integrated program of seahorse conservation. The project does not aim to protect individual seahorses. Rather, we seek to ensure the long-term persistence of seahorse populations while respecting the needs of people who depend on them. One component of this project, launched in 1995 is to develop small scale aquaculture in Vietnam supported by culturing information databases held in UK and Canada. Our Philippines project is also moving towards village-based seahorse culturing. We welcome the involvement and support of individuals and organisations that share these objectives.
A position statement by Project Seahorse on seahorse culturing, which outlines many of the potential difficulties of these culturing operations, will be published in the next edition of The Dragon’s Lair in July 1998.
If you would like to peruse a copy before you submit comments to Environment
Australia’s assessment of proposals to export syngnathids please contact
Vicki-Jo Russell on +61 8 8223 5155.
A number of Dragon Search participants have reported finding dry specimens
of both Leafy and Weedy Seadragons with eggs along the coast of South Australia,
including the metropolitan beach during October. Dragon Search would
be keen to hear from anyone with such sightings and encourage regular beach
visitors to keep a special look out leading up to Christmas.
Just a reminder, in the lead up to Christmas, that T-Shirts, stubbie
holders, poster and computer mouse pads are all available from Dragon Search
on +61 8 8223 5155.
Learning about the marine environment is the best way to help make a difference. There are many excellent resources available; contact the Marine & Coastal Community Network for more general information. By reading the information and survey brochures, organising a survey dive, recording old sightings onto survey sheets, looking out for seadragons amongst the seagrass as you stroll along the beach, contributing articles to The Dragon's Lair and letting others know about the project, you can make a significant contribution to this project, the protection of the two seadragon species and ultimately the marine environment.
If you would like to help the Dragon Search Project, register your interest
with the Dragon Search Coordinator in your State.
© Copyright Dragon Search 2000