26.08.2008 Seine netting, Goompi trail

Day Schedule:
07:00 Breakfast
08:00 Walk to the wetland looking for different seagrass species and seine net fishing with Dr. William Loh
10:00 Morning tea
10:15 Visual identification of the collected samples
11:00 Aboriginal “Goompi Trail” with Matt Burns
12:45 Lunch
14:00 Crossover presentation about Biodiversity and Biodiscovery with Prof. John N.A. Hooper
15:15 Break
15:45 Discussion about individual projects with Prof. Wörheide & Dr. Reich
16:30 Preparation of the individual projects with Prof. Wörheide & Dr. Reich
18:00 Dinner
19:00 Lecture about Whales, Sea Snakes and Sea Turtles by Dr. William Loh
20:00 Spotting Koalas and Dolphins at Point Lookout
21:30 Official end of day

Weather: cloudy in the morning to blue sky at noon, temperatures up to 24°C, slight winds of changing directions
Tides: 11:11 low tide, 18:17 high tide

Details:
That day started with a walk to the nearby tidal zone in order to do sea net fishing and collecting different seagrass species. Two people did the fishing with a big net and several others used small handheld nets to catch everything seen. The success of the big net (seine net) was sobering. In ten walks, only two Garfish (Hyporhamphus regularis ardelio) of about 25cm, one Leatherjacket (Monacanthus chinensis) of about 10cm and several Toadfish (Tetractenos hamiltoni) of different size were caught. The handheld nets gave the same species as the days before; but to mention two beauties a Blue-lined Octopus (Haplachochlaena fasciata) and a Pygmy Squid (Idiosepius pygmaeus) have been identified.
During that time several different kinds of marine plants were collected and brought back to the station. A visual identification with books and identification cards revealed that three species of Seagrass (Zostera capricorni, Cymodocea serrulata and Halophila spinulosa) as well as two species of algae (Sargassum sargassum and Caulerpa taxifolia) were found.
After dinner, Matt Burns from the local aboriginal community gave an introduction into the cultural live of the aboriginal people of Australia. Followed by a walk around, to show different useful native plants and at the end a presentation of several weapons and artefacts. In the Area of Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island are three different tribes (“Nuggi”, “Nunukl” and “Goormpul”) which are living there for about 20.000 years. This dating has been made on shales at traditional eating areas called “midden” where they meet and eat their food, collected from around the island.
After Lunch, Prof. John N.A. Hooper (Head of Biodiversity & Geosciences Program at the Queensland Museum, Brisbane) gave a presentation about Biodiversity and Biodiscovery. He presented a project to regionalise all the different marine species around the Australian continent. It can be differentiated into 3 main Bioregions with turnover-points at Brisbane (E-Coast), Cape York (NE-Coast) and Shark Bay (W-Coast). The presentation covered lots of different topics so it was more a huge crossover than specific information.
Later that evening, the participants divided into 4 groups to work on their different indivdual projects. These cover "Behaviour of Soldier Crabs”, “Meiofauna of two different habitats (Sand & Seagrass), "Phototrophic orientation of Strawberry Cockles (large well-tasting mussels with photosymbionts in the mantle)” and “Blue Swimmer-Crab habitat preferences".
In the evening Dr. William Loh gave a lecture about Whales, Sea Snakes and Sea Turtles in the eastern Australian Region.
As a nice finish of that day, the group went out to “Amity Point” for spotting “Koalas” and “Indopacific Humpback Dolphins” – which was quite successful. Two adult and one baby Koalas were spotted in trees near the local high school, and 2 dolphins were seen at Amity Point after illuminating the water surface with strong torches.