Save Mays Point from Alien Attack!
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009 Posted by stuart
Media release for Surfrider Mays Point Clean up Wednesday 24th June 2009
Save Mays Point from Alien Attack!
Hands up all who enjoy the Wonderful Waves and Views of the Mays Point stretch!
Can you volunteer one hour of your Saturday morning to help protect these hallowed breaks from a biological attack?
Did you know that this stretch of coast, along with other parts of Fredrick Henry Bay, is being rapidly colonized by aliens! The North Pacific Sea Star (NPSS) has landed and is attacking the Points! Are we going to stand back and let it happen? NO WAY! Now is the time to act. Winter is the spawning time, a time when colonies begin to establish themselves. If we can clear out these relatively new populations now, we can prevent them from really overrunning the natural ecology associated with this Pearl of Southern Tasmanian Surfing!
What do these aliens look like?
Checkout this link to know your enemy!
http://www.dpiw.tas.gov.au/inter.nsf/WebPages/ECAL-5KM3ZY?open
and the good guys we are protecting…
http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/file.aspx?id=6917
So how can you help?
The Southern Tasmanian Chapter of Surfrider is planning to mount a pre dawn attack on the NPSS population at Inside Mays Point on Saturday Morning June 27th 2009!
“Why So Early?” I hear you cry!
The greatest Low tide for the weekend (0.28) is at 0627 on Saturday morning. We plan to walk and wade up the point, dragging surfboards and bags so we can clear NPPS from the cobbles down to a depth of about 1 meter. We encourage those Lovers of the long walls and Barrels of Mays to come along and help out.
Come and find the Dell Brothers (Matt and Jim; You’ll recognise us for sure) at Mays Car park at 7 am and we’ll walk over to Inside Mays for Sunrise, get into the Wetties and spend an hour getting as many Aliens of the Beaches as we can. If you are a bit late, just come down to the point when you can – we could do with a hand bringing the Bounty back to the car park.
What to Bring?
• Bring winter steamers, boots and gloves! (no shame in wearing washing up gloves to keep you hands warm!).
• Those without good suits are also welcome. Just Rug up and bring your Gummies and you can form the shore team!
• Bring a Thurmos and some Breakie treats for a post cleanup snack.
• And your Froth Head – might be some waves around after we are done! Perhaps not at the points, but I hear there are some good banks around if you are in the know!
If you are keen contact
Jimmy on 0427 32 5182 james.t.dell@gmail.com
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If any of the Crew from Zadda’s Summer party need a lift back to the arm and a hangover cure – i can pick ‘em up on the way over! hhahahaha
what’s your cure jimmy?! i’m keen to get hold of some.
Cold dip in mother ocean mate – always cures my hangover … eventually
Surfrider and Friends of Mays Point would like to extend “many thanks” to all the early risers that made it to Inside Mays on Saturday (especially those that didn’t let Friday Night antics stop them from having a dig). The Early start was crucial, as the low tide is the best time to attack the Northern Pacific Sea Stars. While there was only a small crew of us, we still managed to remove over 60 kg of invasive and destructive marine pests. Many of the Alien Stars were actively consuming endemic gastropods (snails) and echinoderms (endemic star fish) when they were removed from the rocks – underlining the importance of getting them off out points! Unfortunately we only managed to sweep half of the point at Inside Mays before the tide beat us. If we had a few more willing hands I am sure we could have easily removed all stars from the inside point.
We are planning to get back down to the points and get rid of the rest of the unwelcome pests. So, if you love the waves and shoreline of Mays Point and you are keen to help, then keep an eye on the lowest tides in the coming months and get in touch with me directly or through Surfrider Tasmania.
Yours in Surfing
Jimmy