A CAMPAIGN has been launched to stop the mostly hidden killing and maiming of a group of fish known as smooth rays. The rays are rarely sought after for food but are often killed so they won’t waste a second bait or out of fear, in the case of stingrays. Although the rays will only attack if provoked, scuba diver PT Hirschfield says the level of fear has risen noticeably since Australian wildlife expert Steve Irwin died in 2006 after being pierced in the chest by a stingray barb while filming for the documentary, Ocean’s Deadliest. Hirschfield likens the subsequent…
Author: Keith Platt
SCIENTISTS predict the large number of small King George whiting entering Port Phillip and Western Port bays will be “catchable” by spring 2018. The whiting larvae drift eastward from spawning grounds off far western Victoria and eastern South Australia for about three months before entering the bays and estuaries in spring. Studies of whiting living in seagrass beds in Port Phillip have shown they stay about four years before heading back out to sea. “Westerly winds help drive the currents that bring the whiting larvae into the bay, where they take about two years to reach the legal minimum size…
THE latest “discussion paper” released by Infrastructure Victoria estimates building a container port at Hastings will cost more than double that of developing a new port at Bay West, inside Port Phillip. Using scenarios based on ships capable of carrying either 14,000 TEU (based on 20 foot long containers) or 18,500 TEU, the paper puts the cost of developing Hastings to handle nine million TEU a year brought in by the smaller vessels at $12.8 billion; building Bay West for the same number of containers is $6.14 billion. When the larger ships are taken into account, costs at Hastings go…
THE Disabled Surfers’ Association Mornington Peninsula branch set a new record in the number of participants at one of its surfing events. With 163 taking to the surf at Point Leo on Saturday 4 March the branch broke the national record of 160. Australia’s 16 DSA branches are in Victoria, NSW, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland. There is also a branch in New Zealand. The day at Point Leo was “a relief” for DSAMP secretary Bill Hallett as it followed an event scheduled in January which had to be cancelled because of sharks being attracted to the decomposing body…
NEW research has highlighted the health and social benefits of spending time semi-immersed in a hot spring. Family and friends tend to enjoy the shared experience, while the shedding of mobile phones and time spent in singular contemplation have emerged as being among the main attractions to hot springs. The latest research findings (first published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research) are based on 4265 responses to survey of bathers at Peninsula Hot Springs, in Springs Lane, Fingal, near Rye. As well as highlighting beneficial social outcomes, the study also found bathing at the hot springs provided significant…