Peer teaching
During week 2 of this term, PHPS’s iSea iCare ambassadors (Grace Bahler, Gracie Halliday, Iris Mullan, Imani Olukhale, Itsara Lee and Zara Melvern) ventured into the Prep and Year 1 neighbourhoods to teach them about the biodiversity of the ocean, marine species as well as share some tips about marine environment care.
Our preparations for these experiences started last term with our peer teaching workshop- which you can read about here- https://blogs.phps.vic.edu.au/2018/03/28/isea-icare-peer-teaching/.
It was pleasing to see our hard work be rewarded by engaging the junior neighbourhoods with important content and hopefully starting important conversations with families at home as well.
Ricketts Point Excursion
Last Thursday, PHPS’s iSea iCare ambassadors travelled to and explored the Marine Sanctuary at Ricketts Point in Beaumaris.
Similarly to our past experiences, we became bewildered by the biodiversity on offer and our motivation to protect it grows with every experience.
The four activities that we took part in are described below.
Exploring Rockpools
We started the day by exploring the rock pools at Ricketts Point. We were stunned by the amount of colour and life that can be found in this area, despite being on the edge of urban development (Beach Rd).
The crabs were the show stoppers, but we also found and learnt about many other animals including sea urchins, jelly fish, shell-dwelling creatures, and sea stars as well the flora that lives there including the importance of sea grass.
Exploring Seagrass
We were given sea grass in a tub, a petri dish, magnifying glass, a torch and a pair tweezers and discovered that there is an abundance of life within the sea grass. Many consider sea grass to be the bedrock of ocean life because many species use it as a nursery.
Once we were trained to look, we saw hundreds these minuscule animals and were even able to look at them under a microscope. If we could catch them that is.
Researching and Identifying Dolphins
In this activity we became dolphin researchers. We were taught how to use binoculars and then communicate to each other the location of any sightings.
Then we learnt about the importance of dolphin research and recording many aspects their activity so that their behavior can be tracked. This helps researchers to track their numbers and plan for their success.
We finished by using photographs and tuning into specific details on some dolphin’s fins to try and identify dolphins that are known to researchers.
Beach Rack Litter Survey
The beach rack is usually identified as the line of sea weed that remains on the beach when the tide heads out. As with everything we learn about it is very biodiverse, providing a home and food supply to many species. Alarmingly, it is also full of litter.
We collected litter from the beach rack and then surveyed it by sorting it. There was a concerning number of cigarette butts and we thought, ‘people don’t smoke while they swim at the beach’. These butts find their way into the beach rack by drains, wind or people littering on the beach.
Smokers can cheaply purchase pocket sized bins for their butts that would provide an easy solution to their butts spending up to 10 years decomposing in the beach rack and inserting toxins into the environment.
Newsletters
Below are two links to newsletters that provide an update on the happenings within the Melbourne region of the iSea iCare program and the Dolphin Research Institute broadly.