Handfish

There’s a funny looking fish
In old Van Diemen’s Land
That walks about on fins
That look a lot like hands

He doesn’t like new neighbours
From far off tropic seas
Eating all his food
In the estuaries

And lately he’s been finding
That it’s getting very hot
And the Kelp beds are declining
And he’s in a nasty spot

It really is unpleasant
He would like to up and go,
If there was a place to go to
And he didn’t walk so slow

Tasmania’s marvellous Handfish are in trouble. All of the many species of Handfish are finding it difficult to adapt to the rapidly warming waters around Tasmania and the Spotted Handfish is now endangered. But what options are there for an estuarine species adapted more for walking than swimming? Unlike the warm-water fish invading in their droves from the tropical north, swimming to a new place is not an option for the Handfish. And where would it go in any case? The rapid warming of the waters around Tasmania is driving major ecological change with kelp beds vanishing and a dramatic shift to warmer water species. It doesn’t bode well for Tasmania’s aquaculture industry and particularly the culture of Atlantic Salmon which likes cold water. And if rising sea temperatures were not bad enough there is the hideous Japanese Seastar to contend with. This invasive species was introduced to Tasmania in ballast water and has infested the Derwent River Estuary home of the Spotted Handfish in their countless millions eating their food and their eggs. But what can be done? Getting rid of the Japanese Seastar will help and the CSIRO is working on this but the underlying problem of Climate Change appears unresolvable. I have no doubt that when the situation reaches crisis point in the terrestrial world there will be concerted global action to tackle climate change. The impact of climate change in the marine world is, however, much more rapid and profound than in the terrestrial world. By the time we get around to doing something about climate change it will be far too late for the Handfish and many other marine species.

You won’t find climate change sceptics among marine biologists. They see the consequences first hand and know it is real. The problem with climate change sceptics as stated by Gordon Livingstone in his book Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart , “ It is difficult to remove by logic an idea not placed there by logic in the first place.”

Helping Mother Earth

We grow fat with our technology and despoil
And neglect our mother earth
Who has sustained us since our birth
With natures fruits now left to spoil
As we pollute the air and soil
And laugh at warnings with great mirth
Until we finally face her wrath
And die or be condemned to toil

For despite our arrogance and pride
Each of is natures child
There is nowhere we can hide
We need the earth and nature wild
To be always at our side
And never get our mother riled

We are in a lot of trouble. Climate change, invasive species and habitat loss are wreaking havoc on our ecosystems and threatening the wonderful web of life on our precious planet. And yet it seems that the more comfortable we get the less we think about the consequences of our high population and high technology lifestyle on our fragile planet. It is not in our interest to think about it never lone actually trying to do something about it. We are daily beset by visions of massive floods, raging fires, intense cyclones and endless droughts exacerbated by climate change but for most of us it is not our problem. In the words of the great Moody Blues rock band “someone dropped a bomb today but it wasn’t on anyone I knew.”

The silence of the major parties on environmental issues in Australia’s current federal election campaign is deafening. The exception to this is the Murray Darling River system and only then because the situation has reached crisis point. Irrigators and their communities are competing with the need for environmental flows to sustain stressed ecosystems and the water supply of Adelaide. The lack of water has triggered a water war and both sides of politics are focused on treating the symptoms. They assume it will rain soon and all will be well. Neither side seems to recognise that the situation is a long term consequence of climate change and it's only going to get worse. Neither party has any interest in tackling climate change and the leader of opposition is a climate change denier.

But if the people in the Murray Darling catchment are doing it tough spare a thought for the 2,000 people living on the Carteret Islands, northeast of Bougainville, where their ancestors have lived for 3,000 years. Their islands are disappearing under the waves and they are having to evacuate. The rate of sea level rise in the area is increasing and has been about 8 mm in the past 7 years. I witnessed the same thing happening at my old home town of Madang on the north coast of New Guinea when I visited there last year.

It is not easy to address issues such as climate change but denying it is happening is not going to get us anywhere. The time is fast approaching when we are going to have to unite as a world society and make some unpalatable choices.

I would greatly appreciate any comments you may have on these articles and would be very happy to write on any environmental topic that is close to your heart. Next week I will tell you about the marvelous Handfish that is being threatened by the warming waters around Tasmania and the invasive Japanese Seastar.

Mopoke

Last night I heard a mopoke
Calling from a tree
With a voice of forest folk
And nature wild and free

Ninox calls to me at night
As my emotions swirl
Bringing tales of delight
From the wild world

Mopoke Mopoke
Is how he spoke


There are few things more delightful than the call of a mopoke from the darkness outside our bedroom window. Ninox novaeseelandiae or the Boobook Owl is a small hawk like owl whose distinctive “mo-poke” call was once familiar to people all over Australia but sadly heard less frequently now as much of its forest habitat has disappeared. It is the call of the wild in the voice of the mopoke that reminds us why we made the decision to move out of the city to our forest retreat and why, despite the cost of time and inconvenience of long drives to the city, it is all worthwhile. And sometimes, when we are really lucky, we hear the mournful shrieking cry of the mopokes larger cousin the Barking Owl. The hideous hair raising shriek of the Barking Owl inspired the early settlers to call them the “Murdering Woman Owl.” It must have been a terrifying sound for lone travelers camping in the forest.