Understanding the reef, let's go snorkelling!

A lot of the work we do here at Fitzroy Basin Association is about protecting the Great Barrier Reef. Reef protection starts on-farm, where good management in paddocks helps prevent erosion and run-off of diret, chemicals and other contaminants into waterways. All the waterways of the Fitzroy Basin dran into the reef lagoon. Our coastal team specifically focuses on coastal protection work including supporting reef monitoring.

To get a true sense of why this work is so important, all you have to do is spend time on the reef. It's amazing. That's why FBA took Team Dolphin snorkelling last week!

The group snorkelled around Keppel Island and up into Leeke's creek...Mitch said "I am more aware of the brilliant reef that I had no idea existed and I know a lot more about different species of jellyfish."

Mitch, Jenna from FBA, Kealie, and Shane from FBA

Kealie took an underwater camera and spotted this turtle

and lots of coral

Jenna and Mitch in Leeke's Creek

Go Team Dolphin!

Turkey attack photographic evidence

When Mitch and Kealie went to Byfield they saw turkeys attack a lizard...now here's the proof.

Mr Lizard

Angry turkey

Shane from FBA intervenes

Kealie meets mother and baby dolphin on research trip

Hi again from Kealie!

On day four, it was my turn to go out in the boat which meant a 5:45 start. It was great - we saw Bottlenose Dolphins around 7:17, it was a mother and her juvenile. It was so cute it even came up to the boat to have a look at us, the mother wasn’t too happy.

Out in the boat we saw a lot of jellyfish because spring is in a couple of weeks. After that we saw around four other schools of dolphins the highest school we saw was a group of five adults. All the dolphins we got data on were the Bottlenose Dolphins. We were lucky enough though to see a turtle, which was huge.

Well it will be Mitch and my last day on Friday, really excited but sad that it will be the last but we are going out with a bang!! We are going snorkelling over at the islands, so we will take lots of photos to put up for our last post. So bye for now...

Out on the boat and map-making with Mitch

Mitch and Jenna from FBA get ready for snorlkelling!

Hey everyone, it’s Mitch again,
I had a great time on Wednesday when Jenna, Danielle, Sam and I went out on the boat to search for dolphins. We left Roslyn Bay in the boat at about 6:30 in the morning. The water was a bit rough in some places but as we got further along the coast it got calmer. Unfortunately the dolphins weren’t as social as Danielle wanted them to be.

We did see a few, including two snub fins, but they were mainly feeding when we found them. So they didn’t want to be around us and swam away beneath the surface of the water, making it hard for Sam to take a photo.

We also encountered a turtle which we identified as a loggerhead turtle, a shark that launched itself clean out of the water and thousands of jellyfish. The jellyfish were about the size of a small soccer ball and were recognised as blue blubber jellyfish which are the most common jellyfish to come across along the Australian eastern coast.

Also, on the way back to Roslyn Bay I thought that I had spotted my first dolphin, but after Danielle had seen it, he confirmed that it was infact a dugong that was feeding on the bed off seagrass beneath us. I enjoyed just being out in the boat, seeing the marine life was a bonus.

After being out in the sun all day, I had to try not to fall asleep in the car on the way back to Rocky. When we arrived back at the FBA I was greeted by Mrs White, a great teacher from North Rocky High. She was just making sure everything was going fine on our work experience.

Visiting the nice folk at GBRMPA

Then we walked down to the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authorities’ office. They are really nice people. They gave us some booklets and pamphlets that are really interesting. They were telling us about zoning and how affects on catchments can effect everything in the Great Barrier Reef. I learnt quite a bit from that meeting .
At lunch time today I’m went with Jenna to Yeppoon for a meeting and when I got back I made a map of the area we covered yesterday, showing the dolphin sightings we made.

Mitch's map showing dolphin sightings on satellite imagery of the Fitzroy River estuary

It’s Kealie’s turn to go out on the boat today today so hopefully she’ll see some dolphins and other marine life as well.

On Friday Kealie, Jenna, Shane, Danielle and I get to go to Keppel and go snorkelling. FBA even bought  new snorkelling gear for us to use. It’s going to be awesome.

Wetlands, fish ways and turkey attacks!

Hi all Kealie again - Had a great time yesterday, we went out to Byfield and had a look at the Iwasaki Wetlands, Stoney Creek and Water Park Creek where there we did water testing and looked at the different types of wildlife that lived there.

We went and had a look at a fish way at Water Park Creek which there they have a slotted fish way. At Water Park Creek we had morning tea and had a visitor, a goanna which was being attacked by two turkeys. While down at the water we did a water test to see if it was acidic or alkaline. From there we went to Stoney Creek and looked at the rock ramps for the fish ways and also did the water testing there. 

The Iwasaki Wetlands had so much wild life we found a water rat, which Mitch thought at first sight, was a platypus. There were different types of birds and fish. We found some little prawns/shrimps while looking through the water with nets. We did a water test here as well and found that it was only slightly over acidic so it was nearly neutral.

Well I’m going. Mitch is out in the boat today so hopefully you will get a good report from his time out in the boat looking for dolphins, bye for now Kealie.

Mitch's first day all about research

Hey, it’s Mitch again. On day 1 of my work experience at FBA I met all the staff when I got here this morning. I met researcher Danielle and learned about his PHD and what he does out on the boat. He discussed with us what we’ll be doing on the boat and how we will spot the snubfin dolphins. After the meeting with Danielle we went and bought snorkeling gear to use on Friday when we go to Great Keppel.

I was also asked to research the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin, which is another type of dolphin we may encounter on our work experience. The Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin or the speckled dolphin is listed as near threatened under the Queensland Nature Conservation Act 1992. They have been sighted in coastal waters of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, eastern Africa, Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, southern China, Gulf of Thailand, Indonesia and northern Australia.

Their colours can be pale grey and fading to white towards their underside. Calves are all a light cream colour. The beak is long and contains about 32 teeth in each row. While young, the dolphin’s dorsal fin is triangular and backwards curving. The fins are short and round and they have a large tale.
 As the dolphin ages fat tissue gathers on its back and forms a small hump and the dorsal fin becomes softer and rounder. In Australian populations the beak, dorsal fin and forehead whiten with age and the hump isn’t as pronounced.

I’ve enjoyed the first day. It seems pretty relaxed and easy-going for me but all of the staff seem busy doing their own little bit for the Fitzroy Basin Association. I’m looking forward to tomorrow, when we get to go and see the projects that the FBA are working on.

What I hope to see out at sea

Hi it’s Kealie,
I started work experience with FBA today, and have been doing some research about other dolphins that we might see if we get to go on to the boat. The Bottlenose Dolphin is the most common dolphin.

They have a prominent dorsal fin and vary in shape and size. They are mostly dark grey on their back and on their tummies they are a light grey. They can travel at speeds up to 35 kilometres per hour.
Bottlenose Dolphins can dive as deep as 600 metres for at least 15 minutes. They are widely distributed in cold temperate to tropical waters worldwide.
This type of dolphin can live for over 30 years old and start breeding around the age of 9-10 years for females and 10-13 years for males.
Well, cya later.

Introducing our new team members!

Team Dolphin at Fitzroy Basin Association (FBA) is delighted to welcome two new team members!
Students Kealie Pollett and Mitch Horan from North Rockhampton State High School will join FBA all next week for work experience. They will learn about coastal protection work, and particularly our research into inshore dolphins. Let's learn a bit more about them:

Kealie Pollett:  

Hello my name is Kealie. I'm so excited about work experience next week, it should be great. I chose to do marine biology as my work experience because when I leave school I want to go to university where there I can study Marine Biology to study the unknown lives of the marine animals. 

Ever since I was little I wanted to be a marine biologist and study the life of dolphins. I think that we will have fun going out on the boat and getting an insight on what we might want to do in the future. 

Snorkeling over at the islands will also be great fun because i have never had that experience before!

Mitchell Horan:

Hi my name is Mitch. I’ve been interested in marine science since I was about 12. I’ve always liked marine life like sharks, turtles, whales and dolphins. 

Whenever I go to an aquarium or fishing I’m always fascinated by everything I see. When I’m older I would like to get involved with marine science at JCU.

I think I’ll enjoy going out and witnessing the dolphins in their natural habitat. I’m looking forward to experiencing how everything operates in the office as well, because I mostly hear about the FBA doing fieldwork. I think I’ll find the fieldwork most fun though because that’s just the type of person I am.

Thank you for this opportunity, I think I'll gain a lot of experience from it and I'll make the most of it.  I'm looking forward to next week.

 *Please note: Team Dolphin had some trouble locating an image of Mitch in time for this post, so Wilson the Pineapple is standing in for him. Mitch is NOT a pineapple. We'll make sure Mitch posts a photo next week!

It's got a snubby fin!

The Australian snubfin dolphin is so-called because of it's small 'snubby' dorsal fin.

It's a unique creature, first identified in 2005. This makes it the first new dolphin species to be discovered in more than 50 years. Sadly, there are probably less than 10,000 of the dolphins alive, the species is listed as near threatened. There's a population of around 100 that live in the waters at the mouth of the Fitzroy River.

Unlike other dolphins, the Australian snubfin has a rounded forehead. Some (unkind) people say it's funny looking, but we think it's cute.

Welcome to Team Dolphin - we'll be using this space to share info and news about inshore dolphins on the Capricorn Coast. This blog is managed by CQ's peak group for promoting sustainable use of natural resources, Fitzroy Basin Association, but we will have guest bloggers from time to time.