March/April was a month filled with activity. Here are some of the highlights as well as other news.
We had the sea slug census held on the 12-14 March. Thanks to Josh Moloney for organising an additional Sea Slug Census for Sydney as part of the March Challenge. Unfortunately, conditions were very challenging and so participation rates were very low. Thanks to the 8 people who participated and submitted photos. Understandably, the species count was low with just 18 species photographed. No new or unusual species were added to the list for Sydney SSCs. Nevertheless, this information is a useful addition to the database.
In other news the URG family has a new future member and hence a big congratulations from all of us to Josh Moloney and Bec on the birth of their baby girl Nina.
URG was invited to participate in the Balmoral Seaside Scavenge event held on the 10th April. It's an event put together by a branch of the Mosman Council. URG had a stall with our new marine debris program banner and standard material.
Seaside Scavenge organises clean-up events where litter collected from local waterways and parklands becomes a currency in a pop-up market to purchase pre-loved clothes and goods that have been donated by the local community. The focus is about encouraging communities to reframe their relationship to waste and reduce the amount of litter that makes its way into our oceans.
Big thanks to Pablo for organising and Greer, Peyton, Rianti, Kathy, David and Vishal for participating.
Pics courtesy of Pablo
Pics courtesy of Dave Faulda
Reef life surveys were conducted towards the end of the March/early April and we eagerly hope to run some news on those dives in the next bulletin. Big thanks to John T for organising and running them and for Pablo who woke up early one Thursday morning to drive the boat back from Sydney harbour to its berth at St George Marina.
We are also excited to announce that due to the relaxing of COVID restrictions we will be commencing our bi-monthly socials at the Oaks. These will return to their regular cadence on the first Tuesday of every second month at the Oaks Hotel in Neutral Bay starting on the 4th of May. Hope to see as many of you there as possible.
There are many more exciting developments happening and scheduled so keep an eye on your emails. We have our URG trip away coming up in the winter months. Denise has kindly taken to organising this so get in touch if you want to join. For our newer members who are unfamiliar with the tradition, this is usually a trip overseas for 7-10 days however this time it looks like we might be on a new liveaboard pontoon diving the sites around Heron Island and Lady Elliott on the southern barrier reef in Queensland.
Happy diving.
Cheers
Duncan