Port Phillip Bay survey weekend 6th- 11th May.

A small group of Victorian and NSW divers headed down to Queenscliff for the Port Phillip Bay annual survey weekend.

This trip was a collaborative effort between RLS and Parks Victoria (PV) with the primary aim being to survey established Parks Victoria sites, with data feeding directly into their management of Port Phillip Heads MNP as part of their Sub-tidal Reef Monitoring Program (SRMP) as well as into the RLS dataset.

The SRMP has been running since 1998, with 15 sites established on sub-tidal reef habitats in the vicinity of Port Phillip Heads Marine National Park. Of the 15 sites, the RLS team, which consisted of Don Love, Bill Barker, Sue Newson, Jen Hoskin and Toni, managed to survey 8 of the PV SRMP sites and 2 pre-existing RLS sites which resulted in 28 full surveys over the 5 day period. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t particular kind to the crew and sites were limited to the more sheltered areas of the bay such as Pt Nepean, Pope’s Eye, South Channel Fort and Shortland Bluff.

A lot of cool cryptic fish were spotted including goblinfish (Glyptauchen panduratus), silver spot (Threpterius maculosus), warty prowfish (Aetapcus maculates) and tricky weedfish species. Don got lucky with his warty prowfish and scored 4 at 4 different sites plus a few extras for good measure off transect. He was also determined to spot a western blue groper (Achoerodus gouldii) before the end of the trip and finally on the last day, he saw one!

Overall 60 species of fish and 80 species of invertebrate/cryptic fish were recorded. The most abundant fish were Notolabrus tetricus, Parma victoriae, Siphamia cephalotes and Enoplosus armatus. The most abundant invertebrates were Antedon loveni, Heliocidaris erythrogramma, Haliots rubra, and Meridiastra gunnii.

As the week went on, the weather got worse and unfortunately the trip was cut a few days short due to awful conditions. Even with the elements against us the trip still resulted in a lot of valuable data collected by a group of enthusiastic and skilled volunteers contributing more valuable surveys in the area.

We would like to give a massive thanks to Don Love for providing boat support and for his skippering expertise and knowledge of the Port Phillip Bay area. Also huge thanks must go out to the Parks Victoria crew in Queensclilff, in particular Steffan Howe who helped organise the trip and provided a pen for Don’s boat. We look forward to the next Queenscliff trip and will be keeping fingers and toes crossed for good weather!