Byron Shire Echo September 4, ArticlesLong may the
blue fleet
sailHistory and arts work togetherStory photo Mary GardnerThe recent stormy weather tests the branches of trees on land and whips up the sea. The wind blows the creamy waves and froth ashore. Of course were out walking. The sand blasts against our skin. The clouds puff up and glower. Between gasps of rain, were checking up on the tidal news of the Blue Fleet of the Tasman Sea. Sir Alistair Hardy, a marine biologist from Plymouth, UK, of the early th century, rst named this assemblage of soft blue ocean drifters. Physalia. Glaucus. Janthina. Velella. Bluebottle. Blue sea slug. Violet shell. Blue Sail by the Wind. On the sand are the bluebottles Physalia utriculus. They are a colony, a marine beehive. One indivdual becomes the puffy air sac. Others become the trailing tentacles with their automatic harpoons full of venom. These nematocysts can be triggered regardless if the colony is alive or dead. The erce stingers can pierce surgical gloves. Avoid treading on bluebottles Sometimes, we spot another small blue wonder, a sea slug, a nudibranch, a snail with no shell, whatever. Glaucus atlanticus. With its special grace, it floats through the sea on the bluebottles, eating its tentacles. It ingests the nematocysts without setting them off. It stores them in a special sac and uses them for its own defense. Careful handling these blue blobs On the shore are the blue to violet shells Janthina. There are three species butwe only see one. Why Who can say Using its special snail mucus, this creature blows blue bubbles which act as a raft of oats so it can travel away on the sea with its blue friends. It eats jellysh. Perhaps even Physalia We look for the tough thin Velella, sail by the wind. Its small blue tentacles are barely noticeable there under its clear blue disc and sail. But Velella is not to be seen today. The Blue Companions wander the open ocean, as alien to our landlubber ways as can be. Just as we do, they all start as eggs. But Physalia and Velella are members of the Cnidaria, a group who all have nematocysts. The Cnidarian life cycle can have two wildly differing stages one as a medusa or jellysh and another as an anemone. Different species do one or other or both. Meanwhile Glaucus and Janthina are members of Mollusca. Glaucus are hermaphrodites, being both male and female in one encounter. Are Janthina hermaphrodites too Given their gypsy lifestyle, they could be. If only we could examine a few specimens. Snail dissections are a university biology class highlight. Of all the ones I did, I never did a Janthina. Likely someone has and I could look it up. Like so much of our knowledge of local ecology, the vital details of these four species are snippets passed on to anyone who will listen over literally the centuries. Different information comes from different directions. Iheard it from my lab instructor. I read it in my New Zealand professors book, published by an English University. He dissected many more snails than I did. He also told me what he heard from his professor. The stories go way back. Other snippets are passed on by the generations of local shers and beach walkers. These are often anecdotes, oral notes so vulnerable to social disruption and changes in lifestyles and economics. Blowing on the wind much as the Blue Fleet does. So how to read this latest issue of the tidal news Though the bedraggled stragglers are at their worst, there is a certain comfort in knowing the Blue Fleet is still out there. But how does the Fleet fare as a whole In the s, Sir Hardy designed a plankton tow and a sampling program of the North Atlantic which continues today. By , two thirds of the catch is now identied as very small plastic, in sizes down to microns, the thickness of human hair. Plastics dont break down. They only get smaller, sink somewhat and start riding the ocean currents. Pesticides and other chemicals bond to the particles. These toxic bits are now food for the Blue Fleet in other parts of the world. And here Could we sample our plankton too Dare we Mary Gardner is a writer, biologist and tutor. See more at From left, Gordon Wright, Brunswick Valley Historical Society Vice President, Joan Kelly, arts northern rivers
Museum Development Officer, and Christopher Gray, President of BVHS.Members of the Brunswick Valley Historical Society met Joan Kelly, Arts Northern Rivers Museum Development Officer in Mullumbimby last week to share ideas of how they may work together in the future. Ms Kelly recently took up duty through an Arts Northern Rivers local government partnership designed to support north coast museums.Ms Kelly has had a variety of museum experiences including at Norfolk Island and Winton in Queensland and is based in Alstonville for her new job. Matters raised by volunteers at Mullumbimby included how to deal with document storage in humidity, best housing for farm machinery, and the steps needed to complete acollection inventory. A work plan is being devised that will allow Ms Kelly to spread her time across a number of needy museums and she is expected to return to Mullumbimby for specic project work later in the year. Anyone interested in joining the volunteer team should phone for information.SURF DVD SALEField day on macadamia canopy managementA macadamia seminar and eld day is being held at the NSW DPI Centre for Tropical Horticulture, Alstonville on Wednesday September . It will commence at 2pm sharp with presentations in the CTH conference room followed by afternoon tea then a walk through the CTH orchard. The impact of canopy management practices on light relations, owering and fruit set and orchard yield will be discussed. Results will be presented from an experiment commenced in by Dr David Huett, where canopy architecture treatments were imposed on six year old cv. trees to improve light distribution in canopies. Macadamias have very dense canopies that cause severe internal shading. Shading is also an issue in mature orchards through crowding. Three years later, the impact of this shading will be presented and options discussed for the management of both developing and mature orchards. The CTH Alstonville orchard is approaching optimum tree height above which excessive shading of the orchard oor will be detrimental to the survival of smother grass planted in the inter-row. NSW DPI staff will present both experimental and commercial data. For more information contact Dr David Huett on .MOVING WAREHOUSE2 Tasman Way Ind Estateoff Centennial Circuit Byron Bay Saturday - Sunday only 9am - 2pmSurf Memorabilia, free posters, old vhs freebies, factory 2nds, clothing, stickers more For more info ring or email
