PERV ing at the ocean - Alex Gianuzzi - Marine Dicsovery Centre

Marine Pests - Don Hough - DSE

Congratulations to all of you having one of those once in 4 year birthdays - make sure you make the most of it !!!

Anth made it into the studio instead of his CNN style live cross of last week and it was good to get the whole gang (except Brett) into the studio again.

PERV is Primary Industry Research Victoria - and the MDC is proud to be a perv in association with MARFRI.

They are about to move to new facilities at the Narrows in Queenscliff, but the first term has been very busy, as it seems every school is doing "The Sea" this term.

The highlight has been the reefwatch work at Pt Lonsdale - as the volunteers scratch the surface of what is at the site the whole team is amazed at what turns up and where !

North Pacfic seastars have now been confirmed at Inverloch - the first time in Victoria ouside Port Phillip Bay. Around 45 of them were washed up on a sandy beach and were thought to have hitched a lift there on small boats from the Bay - probably when they were only a few mm long.

Control of these species is difficult unless caught very early due to how effective they are at reproducing. Small boat owners are critical - with them emphasis on ensuring the hull is clean and the internal water system is free of pests. This is not easy when they are only a few mm long and transparent, but if we don't do it we will be outsmarted by a seastar.

If you want to help hunt down and remove these creatures, follow the link to email them to be a diver on their recovery projects

The ecological footprint is about living within natures budget. The budget is about 1.9 ha per person, and we current run at 2.3 ha as a species. That is 20% over budget - so we are building up a deficit.

In Australia it is worse - we use 7.5 ha per person - so we need about 4 planets to support our needs. In the US, they use a wopping 10 ha per person.

The Ecofootprint concept is not about us all going out and getting our 7.5 ha of land and living off it - it is much more like a bank statement on the resources we are consuming and the deficit we are running. It is designed to allow us to take action to correct it, much like if your spending is out of kilter.

Follow the links if you want more info on either calculating your own footprint or to see what the Footprint Network is doing.

Kristina Olsen

Paul Kelly

Cousteau

Brett was full of the joys of late summer and recommends diving almost anywhere at almost any time