Bass Point Coal Loader, Shellharbour 6th July 2008
Dive No. 314. 2.50 pm, 17 degrees, 69 mins, 10.4 max, 6.1 av
Big improvement on the first dive with plenty of fish, mainly yellowtail with small kingfish darting through, lots of old wifes, mados, porcupine fish and quite a few giant cuttlefish perhaps mating or maybe males fighting.
posted by Rick @ 2:12 AM
1 Comments
1 Comments:
Rick
As I understand the Giant Cuttlefish - Sepia apama; only spawn in the Upper Spencer Gulf in the sheltered waters of False Bay, near the township of Whyalla South Australia.
I see by your blogs that you are an avid diver with many references to the Giant Cuttlefish.
I am the Secretary of the Whyalla action group Cuttlefish Coast Coalition. The group was formed on the 27th July 2008 and the aim of the group is to voice the concerns of the community at the proposed Federal Government, South Australian Government and Mining Entities that want to Industrialise the Point Lowly Peninsula, Whyalla, South Australia.
Part of the proposed industrialisation is to place a Diesel Refinery, a Hydrocarbon Facility, a Deep-sea Port for loading Iron Ore and Copper Concentrate. A jetty that they want to build will go straight through the middle of the spawning aggregation of the subspecies Australian Giant Cuttlefish. The jetty probably would take 18-24 months to build.
The problem with this is that the subspecies of the Australian Giant Cuttlefish - Sepia apama live for 12 - 18 months, and shortly after spawning go away and die. If the jetty takes 2 years to build the cuttlefish will be been forced into extinction, as this is the only place on earth where they spawn in the quiet sheltered waters of False Bay.
What I would like to know is:
Question 1: How many instances have you documented that mention the Giant Cuttlefish? In your blog, you mention that you thought the cuttlefish were mating or possibly it was two males fighting.
As the Giant Cuttlefish are predominantly a lone species in so much that they are found by themselves, although they do travel huge distances in their life, they only normally come back together for the annual spawn from April through to the end August, Question two: Are the Giant Cuttlefish that you have witnessed of a different subspecies.
Question 3: The cuttlefish that were mating/fighting were they plain colours or various colours, and what were the sizes of these cuttlefish?
Regards Greg Curnow
cuttlefish_coast_coalition@y7mail.com
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