SFA Newsletter November 2019

Email: sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au
Website: http://sandringhamforeshore.tumblr.com/

Patrons of SFA:
Professor Tim Flannery
former resident of Sandringham and Australian of the Year 2007
Professor John Long
Professor of Palaeontology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Flinders University

SFA is free to join. Donations are appreciated for Bayside Fossil research
directly to Museums Victoria The Lost World of Bayside Fossils
using this link:
Museums Victoria Bayside Fossil Fundraiser
(100% tax deductible donation).

"We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the waters and lands on which we live
and work, and pay our respects to the Elders, past and present”
From the president of SFA, Dr Vicki Karalis AM

Dear Friends and Members of the SFA,

We hope you enjoy reading the November 2019
newsletter which includes:

 Exciting images of new Bayside fossil finds by

Ben Francischelli junior palaeontologist of
Museums Victoria and local community members.
The fossils include a tiny Orectolobus tooth
(wobbegong tooth) and a mystery bone yet to be
discovered, found at Beaumaris Bay. A large porcupine
fish mouth plate and new ear-bones of tiny dolphins
not currently recognised in the literature discovered at
Site A, and a Sperm whale tooth found at Site B.
 Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves Draft
Report - For Public Comment - Submissions
Invited & close November 11th 2019 The Minister
for Energy, Environment and Climate Change
requested VEAC to undertake an assessment of
Victoria's coastal reserves. See further details below.
 To minimise plastic pollution and help create a
sustainable future, the Victorian Government as
of 1 November 2019 have banned all lightweight
plastic shopping bags to apply to all suppliers and
retailers that include supermarkets, green grocers,
bakeries, pharmacies, clothing stores, restaurants,
cafes, markets and takeaway food outlets. For more
information see:
https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/sustainability/pla
stic-bags
 Your opportunity to join the SFA committee if
 interested and help us achieve our objectives and
aims. SFA is a charity organisation and our mission has
always been to support Bayside environmental causes
and preserve our cultural and natural heritage for
future generations to enjoy.
 A lovely photo of two SFA committee members,
Vice-President Alison Horton and committee
member Salva Crusca who were fundraising for
Museum Victoria - Bayside Fossil Site at the recent
Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron 60th Birthday
celebration Open Day for the Community. The photo
was taken by Ike Solomon also a committee member
of SFA and an engineer.
 Alison plays an important role in helping put the
SFA newsletters together and supervising
Cassandra Karalis who manages the SFA website.
We truly are grateful for all their tremendous efforts
and voluntary work to help SFA meet its objectives and
aims.
 Ike Solomon is representing SFA this Friday at
the Roundtable Environment community meeting
organised by our local MP Brad Rowswell. Thank
you to Alison, Salva and Ike!
 Marine Care Ricketts Point Summer Snorkelling
Season 16 Nov 2019- 28 March 2020 - how to
become a member and discover our exciting Marine
Sanctuary!
 Our Marine Life Rocks - Annual Citizens Science
program to count fish at the Marine Sanctuary.
See details below on how you can help with the
annual Great Victorian Fish Count Snorkel hosted
by the Victorian National Parks Association and Marine
 Care Ricketts Point
 A free event: MCRP Speakers evening with Dr
Vicki Karalis who will present "What makes
Beaumaris Bay special" Tuesday 10th December
2019 7pm at the Beaumaris Seniors Centre. Everyone
is welcome.
 Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary Intertidal
Monitoring - see details below
 Have your say- Planning and Building Approvals
Process Review Discussion Paper
 How to identify Marine Pests in Port Phillip Bay.
 Bayside Beach Patrol - how you can get more
involved to help keep our beaches clean.
Ben Francischelli junior palaeontologist at Museums Victoria has sent these photos for
us to share with our readers from the new Bayside fossil sites.

Image 1: Tiny Orectolobus tooth (wobbegong tooth) from Beaumaris

Image 2: Mystery bone found at Beaumaris Bay
Image 3: Posing with mystery bone
Image 4: A large porcupine fish mouth plate found at Site A
Image 5. A fantastic physeteroid (sperm whale) tooth found at Site B By Connah Brecon
with an enamel crown still intact. No modern whale has teeth like this today.
Image 6. A new ear-bone discovered at Site A, representing a previously unknown
morphotype of toothed whales (found by Barb and Ella Vegh).
Image 7. Another new earbone, of an unknown and tiny dolphin not currently recognised
in the literature at Site A (found by Ella and Barb Vegh).
Assessment of Victoria’s Coastal Reserves

Draft Report - For Public Comment - Submissions Invited

In June 2018, the Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change requested
VEAC to undertake an assessment of Victoria's coastal reserves.

The purpose of the assessment is to:

a) review the number and types (reservation status) of coastal reserves in Victoria;
b) identify reserves with high environmental, cultural heritage, social and
economic values and identify values at risk from the impacts of climate change;
c) identify current and emerging uses of the coastal reserves; and
d) compile an inventory, including spatial distribution, of values and uses of the coastal
reserves.

The Draft Report was released on Wednesday 9 October 2019 and submissions are now
invited until Monday 11 November 2019. The Council will report on the completed
assessment in early 2020.

Submissions are due by Monday 11th November 2019

For more information click HERE or paste the following link into your browser.
http://www.veac.vic.gov.au/investigation/assessment-coastal-reserves
Plastic pollution
Reducing the impacts of plastics on the Victorian environment

The Victorian Bag Ban

We are introducing a ban on lightweight plastic shopping bags that will come into effect
on 1 November 2019.

The ban will apply to all suppliers of bags and retailers including supermarkets, green
grocers, bakeries, pharmacies, clothing stores, restaurants, cafes, markets, takeaway
food outlets, and many more. To minimise confusion and impact, the bag ban will apply
to lightweight shopping bags made of all types of plastic (including degradable,
biodegradable and compostable plastics).

Through 2019, we will be working with the National Retail Association to support retailers
in adapting to the changes. This will help minimise impacts to Victorian businesses and
support everyone with the transition. Retailers, suppliers and Victorian businesses
can visit the VicBagBan website for more information.

Consultation
The Victorian Government commenced public consultation on the design of a lightweight
plastic shopping bag ban reducing the impacts of plastic pollution in October 2017. The
discussion paper on these issues, Reducing the impacts of plastics on the Victorian
environment, can be accessed below.

Reducing the impacts of plastics on the Victorian environment - Discussion Paper - PDF

Reducing the impacts of plastics on the Victorian environment - Discussion Paper - Word
Document

We talked to a range of stakeholders, including retailers and environmental groups, to

get their views on how we can best reduce plastic pollution.

The consultation closed in January 2018. We received more than 8,000 submissions. A
full summary of the feedback from the consultation, an outline of the ban and our next
steps on plastic pollution can be found in the consultation report:

Reducing the impacts of plastic on the Victorian Environment - Consultation Report - PDF. (PDF,
1.2 MB)

Reducing the impacts of plastic on the Victorian Environment - Consultation Report - Word
Document. (DOCX, 1.7 MB)

Other plastic pollution

Plastic bags are only part of the problem. Throughout the consultation process, a range
of other plastic pollution issues were raised, including cigarette butts, food and beverage
containers and other single-use plastic items.

Over the next 12 months, we will develop a plastic pollution action plan to prioritise the
most effective actions to reduce other types of plastic pollution. We will also establish a
reference group made up of government, industry, community and environmental
representatives to help inform this plan, while continuing to draw on the feedback
received during the consultation.

Further information
For more information, please contact the Waste and Resource Recovery team via
email wastepolicy@delwp.vic.gov.au
Inviting new Committee Members of the SFA

Hello Readers.
Sandringham Foreshore is looking for new committee members. If you are interested in
joining our enthusiastic and motivated team to share ideas and help with our
objectives, please contact Dr Vicki Karalis by email: sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au and
include a CV and short paragraph telling us why you are interested in joining us.

Ike captured two other SFA committee members, Alison and Salva fundraising for
Museum Victoria - Bayside Fossil Site at the recent Beaumaris Motor Yacht Squadron
60th Birthday celebration Open Day for the Community.
 MARINE CARE RICKETTS POINT (MCRP)
SUMMER SNORKELLING SEASON
16 NOVEMBER 2019 – 28 MARCH 2020, SATURDAYS 9am

It’s time to dust off your masks, fins and wetsuits, and get ready for the great snorkelling
season!

This is a reminder that the MCRP Summer Snorkelling Season will, as usual, run every
Saturday morning at 9am from a different point in the Sanctuary, from mid November
2019 to the end of March, 2020.

Each snorkel is subject to weather conditions, and the place chosen also depends on
weather conditions.

Members are notified each week by email, usually on the Wednesday night or Thursday
morning, of the location and expected weather.

Please note that in order to participate, you must:

 be a financial member of MCRP (Join here)

 have your own snorkel, mask, fins, and we recommend a 5mm wetsuit (and
hood, gloves, and booties if you feel the cold.);
 and have signed and read the appropriate forms.

For further details, please check out our extensive information on our
website http://marinecare.org.au/snorkelling/.
 Photo courtesy of Parks Victoria

GREAT VICTORIAN FISH COUNT SNORKEL

SATURDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2019, 9am
(weather permitting)

Every year Marine Care Ricketts Point opens the season with the Great Victorian Fish
Count, where we join with Victorian National Parks Association (VNPA) in their annual
citizen science program to count fish in a local area.
It’s good fun and a great way to contribute to citizen science through VNPA’s records.

As part of the snorkel, we carry fish identification charts and slates to mark off the fish we
see.

Participants get a free T shirt with the logo of this year’s chosen feature fish.

This year, the overall theme is “Our Marine Life Rocks!” and our feature fish is
the Ornate Cowfish. Check out info about it
here http://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/834 and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aracana_
ornata.

Once again, our Great Victorian Fish Count will be run by our very experienced snorkel
leader, Gayle Kiteley, who’ll be contacting MCRP members soon with details. Thanks to
Gayle for all the hard work she puts into organising this event.

MCRP are the only organisation which has been participating in this VNPA Count since
its inception.
Any queries about our snorkelling program, please contact me.
Looking forward to seeing you in the water.

David Langmead
Snorkel Co-ordinator
Mobile 0418 389 212
 Marine Care Ricketts Point - Speakers Evening
Tuesday 10 December 7pm for 7.30pm.
Beaumaris Seniors Centre, Reserve Road, Beaumaris
(behind the Beaumaris Library)
All Welcome - a free event

Dr Vicki Karalis will present

“What Makes Beaumaris Bay Special”

Dr Vicki Karalis is a respected medical practitioner and President of
the Sandringham Foreshore Association, a not-for-profit charity
organisation. Beaumaris Bay is significant for its palaeontological,
geological, artistic and indigenous values. Vicki will discuss the
significance of Beaumaris Bay and what makes it special in relation to
other Bayside beaches.
Vicki's goal and passion are driven in helping our society maintain a
healthy community and population, and preserving and protecting
our natural environment for future generations to enjoy. To honor
her voluntary efforts, Vicki is a recipient of the Queen's Birthday
Honors Award and awarded an Australia Day Environment Award by
Bayside City Council for the Environment.

RICKETTS POINT MARINE SANCTUARY INTERTIDAL MONITORING - SPRING

You are invited to participate in intertidal monitoring at Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary.

Date: This event was postponed in October due to high winds. A new date will be
advertised soon.
Where: Triangle Reef Ricketts Point
Parks Victoria is focussing on an adaptive management process and the data collected
from intertidal monitoring will feed directly into this process; the information collected will
be interpreted and certain threshold levels/factors will trigger management action.

The method we will use to monitor the intertidal reef will be explained in detail during the
session and activities include:

 Taking photos

 Intertidal reef assessment – counting habitat using point intercept method

 Intertidal reef assessment – counting invertebrates

Who can participate?

Anyone interested in learning about the health of intertidal reef in Ricketts Point
Marine Sanctuary and reporting the information back to Parks Victoria.

Equipment needed:

Wet booties/shoes that can get wet and wear appropriate clothing for the
weather.

Please rsvp by registering as a volunteer and clicking on the event on

ParkConnect.

ParkConnect is a secure self-service portal offered by Parks Victoria that

advertises all volunteer opportunities in Parks Victoria’s estate.

https://www.parkconnect.vic.gov.au

Direct link: click here

https://www.parkconnect.vic.gov.au//Volunteer/public-planned-activity/?id=65b73672-c9e0-
e911-a812-000d3ad1972a

To create an account, go to the above web address

click on ‘sign-in’
click ‘register’
enter your email and set a password (with at least one uppercase and one number),
click ‘register’ update your information with ‘name’, ‘last name’, ‘email’, ‘mobile’,
click ‘update’

click ‘send confirmation email’ click ‘complete registration’

Once you have registered, you will be able to navigate via the above link to find the
intertidal monitoring activity and join the activity.

If you need assistance in creating a ParkConnect login/user account or navigating the

system please contact Ranger Daisy Smith daisy.smith@parks.vic.gov.au , Ranger Team
Leader Emily Verey Emily.Verey@parks.vic.gov.au or myself ellen.williams@parks.vic.gov.au

We look forward to seeing you there.

HAVE YOUR SAY - Planning and Building Approvals Process Review - Discussion
Paper

Planning and Building Approvals Process Review - Discussion Paper

Now live on Engage Victoria.

Have your say on the proposed improvements to the planning and building approvals
processes.

This consultation relates to the Planning and Local Government categories.

This review has focused on how to eliminate unnecessary delays while improving the
necessary scrutiny that planning and building applications need to ensure quality
outcomes.

A planning system where approvals take far too long leaves all participants in the system
frustrated about the outcomes and is clearly not working as well as it should. Building
approvals that have not prevented a series of systemic problems are clearly in need of
review.

This review has looked at the root causes for why planning and building approvals have
become so complex and time consuming and, in many cases, less effective than they
should be. This discussion paper has identified 27 points in the approvals chain where
specific short and medium-term improvements can be made.

Many of these issues have been identified in the past and individual councils have
already made significant efforts to address these. What is needed is adoption of best
practices, reforming the rules and simplifying processes, along the entire approvals
chain.

There are many decisions-makers involved along the pipeline and reforming the planning
and building approvals system will require coordination across all of these. There is
scope to improve the interactions between all decision-makers and potentially deliver a
significant efficiency dividend as a result of these reforms.

A range of estimates has been provided by various parties of the economic cost of
avoidable delays in the $33 billion construction sector. These appear to lie somewhere in
the order of $400 to $600 million a year – or up to 2 per cent of the value of the sector.
This would impact housing affordability and reduce delays and costs.

This discussion paper sets out what we have heard from stakeholders, the conclusions
we have drawn from looking at the data and the analysis of council approvals processes
being undertaken by PwC.

The Commissioner would like to thank the advisory board of Bill Kusznirczuk, Kate
Roffey and Radley de Silva as well as the review team for all their hard work on this
discussion paper. Thanks are also due to the many councils, industry groups,
associations of professionals and others with an interest in planning and building
approvals for the time and guidance they gave us as we developed this paper. We look
forward to their feedback.

We welcome submissions on the proposed improvements set out in this Discussion

Paper, in particular stakeholders’ responses to the following questions for each proposal:

 Are there benefits from this approach?

  Are there other approaches which warrant consideration? What are they?
 Are there specific examples where these or similar approaches have already
been adopted and, if so, what were the benefits of doing so?
 Are there other factors that should be considered?

Your submissions are being sought by Friday 15th November 2019. A final report,
including specific recommendations on implementation will be submitted in December
2019

Marine Pest Cards - How to identify marine pests.

We need your help to keep watch for marine pests.

Know your area. Keep a look out. Learn what to look for. Some pests look very much like the
native species. If unsure take a photo and ask Parks Victoria to identify it for you before
removing it.
If you see something unusual, report it.
National register of marine pests is available from the following websites
https://www.marinepests.gov.au
https://www.marinepests.gov.au/pests/identify

Marine Care Ricketts Point also have a series of cards available on their website identifying
the Pests that have invaded Port Phillip Bay and showing you examples of the Native species.
Please click on the link below to download a copy to help you to identify the difference
between native and non native marine life.
http://marinecare.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Marine-pest-id-cards.pdf
Bayside Beach Patrol - helping to keep our beaches clean.

Beach Patrol Volunteers meet every month to pick up rubbish that either has been washed in
or dropped in the Marine Sanctuary.
BP 3193 is one of many groups that clean Melbourne's beaches. Visit their website
https://www.beachpatrol.com.au to find a group near you or if there isn't one why not gather a
group of friends or neighbours and form your own. The new free App mentioned below will
show you how to register your group and keep a tally of the type and amount of rubbish you
collect.

The next beach clean is this Saturday

When: Saturday, 5 October, 11 am
Where: 100 metres south of Ricketts Point Beachside Cafe

Beach Patrol's new app - "Litter Stopper"

Ross and Ramona Headifen have funded the development of a new app called Litter Stopper
for recording litter collection data. It allows you to enter a clean as your own group and submit
that data. You have the option of submitting under a BeachPatrol group, a Love Our Street
Group or an ‘Other’ group or person. What we want to do is get a lot more attention to the
government on the actual situation of litter/rubbish in the bay and on the streets.
Free to download from your App Store (its the white tile with the turtle), instructions for
use provided.
 Free SFA Membership
The Sandringham Foreshore Association is a charitable not-for-profit association. Membership is free. Our
self-acclaimed role is to foster and promote good natural conservation principles to Bayside foreshore
management. Our current focus is to assist public education by aligning ourselves with scientific experts in
fields of conservation and natural environment, and to facilitate effective communication between
community – council and state governments – and established environmental science publications and
position statements.
The role of SFA is to care for and help protect our local beaches and cliffs, but also to educate, raise
awareness and preserve our local archaeological, geological, cultural, indigenous and heritage sites such
as the Beaumaris Bay fossil site.
If you are interested in joining our free membership, to receive notices and our Quarterly Newsletters –
Please respond via our website
http://sandringhamforeshore.tumblr.com/MembershipForm

Copyright: Sandringham Foreshore Association All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is: sandyforeshore@optusnet.com.au

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